MILADUMMADULU. 87 



of Breyfasdu (PI. 39, fig. 1) is tall and dense; the latter has, like the 

 former, a stretch of large boulders on the southeast face.' Both islands are 

 wasting away. 



In Bomasdu (PI. 39, fig. 2) the lagoon has become entirely silted up; 

 nothing is left of it except a very shallow sink almost filled with patches of 

 sand, which cross it in every direction. The sand beaches of the sea face 

 are steep ; the outer edge of the reef rim flat is crowded with large patches 

 of flourishing corals. 



Bodu Mandu (PI. 40, fig. 1), also on the east face of Miladummadulu, 

 is steep to ; the greater part of the lagoon has been filled up to the general 

 level of ■ the rim reef flat ; the lagoon is shut off from the sea by a steep 

 shingle beach which now joins the two horns of the crescent- shaped island 

 and encloses a lagoon with a depth of five fathoms. In 1836 this lagoon 

 was, according to the chart, connected with the sea across the narrow still 

 slightly submerged rim reef flat, but it is now closed. In all the crescent- 

 shaped or linear or other islands on the reef flats of the faros of the east 

 face of Miladummadulu or of other grou]^>s which have increased in size and 

 been formed by the coalescence of smaller islands, it is always possible to 

 detect, by the difference in the character of the vegetation, those parts of 

 the land rim which are of more recent origin and have grown up on the 

 connecting spits or horns. No atoll we have seen shows in a simpler and 

 more convincing manner than Bodu Mandu how an enclosed lagoon of 

 considerable depth, completely shut off from the sea, has been formed by 

 the throwing up of a shingle dam connecting the horns of the crescent- 

 shaped island and enclosing a part of the old rim flat and central area 

 of the faro. 



In Kuda Mandu (PI. 40, fig. 2), the next atoll to the north, the lagoon is 

 not quite shut off, it is only partly closed by a bar of shingle thrown up on 

 the shallow rim of the reef flat. There is to the eastward of the bar a 

 boat passage giving free access to the sea at all stages of the tide. 



Another interesting crescent-shaped atoll is Dureadu (Pis. 41, 42, fig. 1), 

 situated in the centre of the narrowest part of Miladummadulu. It is a faro 



1 Hainbuddu I did not visit. According to Gardiner, loc. cii., p. 394, it is unique among the 

 Maldives in having a definite reef flat on all sides except the west. 



