HYDROGRAPHY OF THE MALDIVES. 



Plates 1-8 c. 



It was greatly to our advantage to have as a guide the surveys pub- 

 lished by the Admiralty.^ We could obtain at a glance an accurate idea 

 of the points of interest needing further examination and thus worked 

 with great rapidity, losing no time in obtaining information by a tedious 

 examination on shore of points of unknown value. This was specially 

 important in a group of such simplicity and uniformity of structure as 

 the Maldives. 



It seems to me as if the conditions of portions of the Maldive plateau 

 were very similar to those existing upon the Yucatan Plateau inside the 

 one-hundred-fathom line, where from a depth of about forty fathoms rise 

 independent reefs such as the Triangles, Alacran Reef, the English, Opisbo, 

 and Areas Banks. 



There is however a great difTerence in the number of atolls found in the 

 two regions. On the Maldivian plateau in a distance of over four hundred 

 and fifty miles there must be hundreds of atolls ; while on the Yucatan pla- 

 teau, three or four only of the patches can be designated as atolls in about 

 the same length. The number of atolls and islands existing on the Maldives 

 is estimated to be as great as ten thousand. This is probably an exaggera- 

 tion. I have counted roughly the number of atolls and rings and islands of 

 Ari and other groups. There are three hundred and ninety-one in the Ari 



1 The Maldives were surveyed during 1834-1836 by Commander Moresby and Lieutenants Powell 

 and Young. These surveys were published by the Admiralty as sheets 66 a, 66 b, and 66 c (Pis. 1-6). 

 The survey of Minikoi in 1891 by Commander Hoskyn is published as Admiralty Chart 2738; it also 

 shows the relations of Minikoi to the Indian peninsula as well as to the Maldives and Laccadives. 



The Laccadives and the opposite coast of the Indian peninsula were surveyed in 1848 by officers of 

 the East Indian Government, and by officers of the Marine Survey of India in 1891-92; see Admiralty 

 Chart 2737 (PI. 8). 



H. O. Chart No. 1591 shows in a convenient form the connection of the Maldives and of Minikoi 

 with the southern part of the Indian peninsula and with Ceylon (PI. 7). From Admiralty Chart 748 B 

 (PI. 7) has been constructed. 



