SOUTH NILANDU. Ill 



are a number of large and well-wooded islands in the northern and southern 

 part of the central area. South Nilandu is somewhat deeper than North 

 Nilandu, its greatest depth being thirty-nine fathoms. In both North and 

 South Nilandu the general depth is about thirty fathoms, with many sound- 

 ings over thirty-five fathoms. 



The northern and northwestern faces of South Nilandu (PI. 5) are 

 flanked with large rectangular fiiros with from five to nine fathoms in the 

 lagoons. The southern part of the west face is flanked by a narrow bow- 

 shaped reef flat, enclosing a small lagoon at the northern extremity and 

 studded with a few islands near the southern part. A narrow belt of water 

 from six to ten fathoms in depth is partly shut off from the waters to 

 the eastward by a series of disconnected coral banks running parallel to 

 the outer reef flat. A similar long reef flat extends along the southeastern 

 face of South Nilandu. It encloses a long narrow lagoon ; it is difficult to 

 decide whether this lagoon has been formed by a series of independent coral 

 patches similar to those off the reef flat on the western face of South 

 Nilandu, which have gradually joined as they came to the surface and have 

 formed the western rim of the lagoon, or if the rim has grown up along its 

 whole length from the surface of the South Nilandu plateau, as have the 

 small faros of the interior of the groups of the Maldives. 



We entered South Nilandu through the wide pass between Madali and 

 Huludali. The island of Huludali is on the northwest face of a large faro ; 

 its sea face is flanked by a belt of boulders and coarse shingle. The rim of 

 the south horn of Madali is flanked by a narrow belt of coral boulders and 

 coarse shingle, and the southei'n face of the island is formed by a steep 

 shingle beach. 



The Jewellers Islands (PL 78, fig. 2), the most important of the inner 

 islands of South Nilandu, are three large well-wooded islands with steep 

 coral sand beaches and short lines of boulders on the south faces of the reef 

 flats surrounding them. Middle Jeweller Island tails out to the westward, 

 forming a small reef flat enclosing a small lagoon. To the west of the same 

 isliind is found a small faro with a diminutive and shallow lagoon, a mere 

 slit in the flat; whenever this becomes filled by sand, it will be changed into 

 a sand flat. 



