DESTRUCTION OF CORAL ISLANDS. 8i>l 



United States' consul at Tahiti.* This sailor had 

 encountered a terrible liurricane in south latitude 

 19° 20', west longitude 162°. "I found," says he, 

 " the islands of this group in a deplorable state. 

 The Palmerston group originally numbered seven 

 islands— six only now remain ; the north-easterly one, 

 and a part of the coral reef, having entirely dis- 

 appeared." 



Coral reefs and islands are only developed in tro- 

 pical seas. They are, however, exceptionally found 

 in the Bermudas, in latitude 3o° N., a circumstance 

 due to the warmth of the waters of the Gulf Stream 

 which flows by these islands. They are not met 

 with on the western coasts of Africa and America, in 

 consequence of the diminution in the temperature of 

 these parts, occasioned by the cold marine currents 

 from the poles. 



In no part are the coral reefs so extensive as on 

 the coasts of New Caledonia and Australia. In fact, 

 these seas have in conseqnence been designated the 

 Coral Seas. 



The atolls of Tahiti and of the Bass Islands an^ 

 surrounded by sea at a mean temperature of 

 77° Fahr. Near Peni and Chili the mean tempera- 



* Extract from a letter by Mr. Withing, Commodore in Ihe 

 Amcric m Navy, in.<erted-iu the Bulletin International de I Obfier- 

 vatoire Jmju'nal de Par.'s, 



