TILADUMMATI-MILADUMMADULU PLATEAU. 81 



have led to the formution of the faros, the inner and outer lagoon reefs 

 of North and South Malosmadulu, of North and South Male, of Ari, of 

 Nilandu, and other Maldive groups. They show in great detail that 

 subsidence cannot account for the formation of atolls upon banks of such 

 great differences hi depth as those of the Maldives, and all within short 

 distances of one another. It would require an irregularity and a range 

 in the vertical oscillations of different parts of the Maldivian plateau 

 entirely without precedent. The deepest soundings indicated on the chart 

 for the Tiladummati-Miladummadulu plateau is thirty fathoms, but the 

 greatest number of soundings range between twenty and twenty-four 

 fathoms. 



Entering, as we did, Miladunnnadulu from the west, to the south of 

 Digu Faro (PI. 2), one cannot fail to observe, looking either east or south, 

 how little land is visible, how open and unobstructed is this stretch of 

 Miladummadulu, and how exposed are its opposite shores, according to the 

 season, to the full action of the prevailing winds. One gets quite the 

 impi'ession of being in the open sea, with a few islands looming up here 

 and there on the horizon. They are, however, so far apart and so few and 

 insignificant in size, that they afford little or no shelter from the monsoons 

 to islands even at a small distance. A glance at the chart cannot fail to 

 bring this out. Great stretches of the interior of the central and northern 

 part of Miladummadulu are bare of islands, with here and there a diminu- 

 tive patch. They give the impression of a great open tract of sea, — fully 

 sustained when one steams through the area delineated on the chart. 



The most characteristic features of this plateau are the open nature of 

 the interior waters and the number and great width and depth of the 

 passages between the islands and faros on the outer faces of the group. 

 On the central part of the east face is a wide opening nearly ten miles 

 across ; five passages are over four miles in width, four are nearly three 

 miles wide, twelve are over two miles, and five are two, with at least 

 fifteen or si.xteen passes of a mile between the smaller islands and faros. 

 On the west face there are nine passes of more than one and a half miles. 

 In fact, the length of deep open water on the faces of the Tiladummati-Mila- 

 dummadulu group far exceeds in length that of the islands, faros, and flats 



