TOPOGRAPHY OF THE INDIAN OCEAN. 11 



which flow across these atolls to have broken " through the many wide 

 breaches in their margin," and to have removed the finer sediment and 

 deepened the channels. Such channels as divide Middle Malosmadulu from 

 North and South Malosmadulu and the separate parts would then form 

 distinct atolls like those of Ari and Ross, or the two Nilandus. " Further 

 subsidence would render these channels unfathomable, and the dissevered 

 portions would then resemble Felidu, Mulaku, and Horsburgh, which are 

 related only in proximity." 



From what the soundings made by the " Amra " teach, the ingenious 

 suggestions of Darwin regarding the formation of the Maldives are not 

 borne out. Nor does it seem possible, as he suggests, that the Maldive 

 Archipelago originally existed as a barrier reef of nearly the same dimensions 

 as that of New Caledonia. The central basin which separates the eastern 

 and western Maldives has no analogue in New Caledonia, and even if the 

 whole island were to subside, the section across the centre would in no way 

 resemble that of the great Maldivian basin with its fringe of independent 

 atoll-like groups. 



