76. THE CORAL REEFS OF THE MALDIVES. 



portions of the belt of bushes are dying. All along the southwest face of 

 Fadiffolu the inclination of the belt of vegetation and its slant to the east- 

 ward shows the efTect of the southwest monsoon. On the south shore of 

 Kanifuri, which is not quite so exposed to the full sweep of the southwest 

 monsoon, the vegetation becomes quite flourishing again. The southern 

 beach of Kanifuri is a steep, coarse shingle beach ; the island is edged 

 by a narrow reef flat, and is steep to at the western extremity, which 

 forms the western horn of Fadiffolu. From five to seven feet of water are 

 found on the reef flat of the western horn of Fadiffolu. 



Though there are no passes through the great southeastern reef flat of 

 Fadiffolu, yet a great mass of water passes over it. On the northeast 

 face, from Faidu the extremity of the reef flat on the southeast face, four 

 narrow reef flats occupy the outer rim as far as Kuredu, the northern horn 

 of the group.' Two of the flats are separated by narrow passes, but the 

 northeastern pass is wide and of considerable depth. 



There are but few rings, banks, and faros within the Fadiffolu group, all 

 in the western parts, the eastern parts of the atoll being quite clear. The 

 greatest depth of Fadiffolu is thirty-two fathoms ; the greater number of 

 the soundings are between twenty and twenty-five fathoms. 



On the west face of Kanifuri the corals were found to be most flourish- 

 ing off" the western horn, in the belt from eight to nine fathoms, gradually 

 becoming less numerous towards the surface. They extend to seventeen 

 fathoms, where the sand-bars and lanes and patches of sand gradually 

 become wider, separating the coral masses into distinct clusters, until they 

 become irregular, decrease gradually in size, and finally disappear in the 

 belt of dead and dying fragments of corals at the base of the talus of the 

 reef flat. 



The trend of the northwest face of Fadiffolu with reference to the 

 northeast and southwest monsoon is such that it is raked by both, while 

 the eastern and the western faces of most of the groups are raked by only 

 one of the monsoon.s, and remain under the lee during the season of the 

 other. This readily explains the distribution of the shingle, of the coral sand 

 beaches, and of the boulder belts on the outer edge of the rims of faros 



1 Gardiner, loc. cit., p. 400, fig. 104. 



