branner: the stone reefs of brazil. 189 



are exposed to the air, the rock hardens and is used as we have seen as a build- 

 ing stone at Sidon, Tyre, Jaffa, and Asrisch. The shores of the Red Sea are 

 producing analogous marine formation, and the ports are being partly obstructed 

 by the development and slow elevation of the coral reefs." 



What seems to be a continuation of the same reef at Jaffa is thus 

 described by Hull : ^ — 



" A natural breakwater of calcareous sandstone projects outwards into the 

 Mediterranean from the ancient walls at the south end of the town (of Jaffa). 

 Outside this all large ships are obliged to cast anchor, and passengers as well 

 as cargoes have to be received and discharged by means of boats, which fre- 

 quently have to breast a heavy surf. The rock is seen under the lens to be 

 composed of comminuted shells, pieces of coral, and other marine forms ; and 

 it appeared to me to be of recent formation, raised into the air when the whole 

 sea- bed was being elevated. A similar formation of shelly limestone appears 

 to be in process of consolidation along the shore further towards the north, 

 where it is quarried just under the sands at the margin of low water. The 

 shells of which it is formed are those which strew the shore in immense num- 

 bers, chiefly those of Pedunculus glycineris," 



The preceding descriptions of the reefs of the Levant show that they 

 bear some resemblance to the stone reefs of Brazil. They follow the 

 coast line closely, and have been produced by the recent hardening of 

 beach sands by the deposition of lime carbonate. 



Mention has been made of consolidated beaches upon the shores of 

 the Red Sea. Hawkshaw barely speaks of having seen such beaches.^ 

 Dr. Buist speaks of elevated beaches on the shores of the Red Sea,* 

 and the rocks of the region are said to be " nummulite limestone." He 

 observes, however, that there is not a stream along its shores (p. 280), 

 — a matter of importance in connection with the present discussion. 



In his paper upon " Pleistocene shells from the raised beach deposits 

 of the Red Sea," Mr. R. Bullen Newton * mentions many raised beaches, 

 some of them having an elevation of as much as 560 feet above sea-level, 

 but his paper is a palaeontologic one, and nothing is said of the condition 

 of the materials forming these old beaches. 



In a later article by Dr. Hume,^ mention is made of elevated beaches 



1 Edward Hull. Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine, p. 148. London, 

 1889. 



2 Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc, 1879, XXXV., p. 242. 



^ Buist. On the physical geography cf the Ked Sea. Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc, 

 XXIV., p. 227-238. London, 1854. 

 * Geol. Mag., Nov. and Dec, 1900. 

 6 W. F. Hume. Geology of Eastern Sinai. Geol. Mag., 1901, VIII., p. 200-204. 



