98 THE CORAL REEFS OF THE MALDIVES. 



of Baura. On the sea face of Baiira the beaches are covered by coarse 

 coral shingle, and the outer edge of the reef flat is flanked by a belt of 

 large boulders. 



The lai'ger crescent-shaped islands on the eastern face of Tiladummati, 

 such as Hanimadu, Baura, Filadu, Kelai, have, like Muradu and Naguri on 

 the west face and others elsewhere in the Maldives, been formed by the coa- 

 lescence of separate islands, gradually united into one by the extension of 

 sand spits and bars. This is admirably shown both in Hanimadu and Filadu 

 (PI. 50, fig. 1); in the latter the connecting ridge is a mere sand-dam 

 flanked by shingle on the sea face, and so low and so narrow that, steaming 

 along the sea face, one can look across far over the reef flat rim of the 

 western face of the lagoon reef. 



The lagoon reef of Filadu was at one time a lagoon open to the north 

 with a wide eastern reef flat rim, on the northern and southern extremities 

 of which were situated small islands (much as at Muradu in 1835); these 

 must have gradually increased in size and become united by a narrow sand 

 ridge reaching little by little north or south from the existing terminal 

 islands, — a connection at first made by sand-bars or by piles of shingles. 

 The vegetation of the connecting ridge of Filadu consists of low bushes 

 and is in marked contrast with that of its club-shaped extremities. The 

 lagoon reef of Filadu is nothing but a small atoll, with a well-defined land 

 rim, a broad reef flat, and an opening nearly a mile wide with three fathoms 

 of water leading into the lagoon, the greatest depth of which is nine 

 fathoms. A small islet of coarse coral shuigle, not indicated on the chart, 

 marks the horn of the reef flat rim on the western side of the pass into 

 the lagoon. There is a secondary lagoon in each of the extremities of 

 Filadu; the northern one we could look into as we passed; its color 

 indicated a depth of about one fathom, probably formed like that of Kuludu. 



Filadu, Kelai (PI. 50, fig. 2), and Warifuri (PI. 51, fig. 2), the three lagoon 

 reefs forming the northeastern horn of Tiladummati, are in reality three 

 atolls of considerable size. Kelai is over four miles in length and nearly two 

 miles wide, Filadu is about three miles in length and two miles in greatest 

 width, while Warifuri is somewhat smaller. 



On the western face of Kelai, there is an entrance to the lagoon, with a 



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