630 WEATHER — SOUNDINGS — ISLETS. April 



Until the 12th every one was actively occupied ; our boats 

 were sent in all directions, though there was so much wind 

 almost each day as materially to impede surveying. Sound- 

 ings on tlie seaward sides of the islands could seldom be ob- 

 tained ; but two moderate days were eagerly taken advantage 

 of to go round the whole group in a boat, and get the few 

 deep soundings which are given in the plan.* The two prin- 

 cipal islands (considering the whole southern group as one 

 island,) lie north and south of each other, fifteen miles apart ; 

 and as soundings were obtained two miles north of the large 

 island, it may be inferred, I think, that the sea is not so deep 

 between the two as it is in other directions. Only a mile from 

 the southern extreme of the South Keeling, I could get no 

 bottom with more than a thousand fathoms of line. 



The southern cluster of islets encircle a shallow lagoon, of 

 an oval form, about nine miles long, and six wide. The islets 

 are mere skeletons — little better than coral reefs, on which 

 broken coral and dust have been driven by sea and wind till 

 enough has been accumulated to afford place and nourishment 

 for thousands of cocoa-palms. The outer edges of the islands 

 are considerably higher than the inner, but nowhere exceed 

 about thirty feet above the mean level of the sea. The lagoon 

 is shallow, almost filled with branching corals and coral sand. 

 The small northern island is about a mile in diameter ; a 

 strip of low coral land, almost surrounding a small lagoon, 

 and thickly covered with cocoa-nut trees. 



These lonely islands (also called Cocos,) were discovered in 

 1608-9 by Captain William Keeling, who was in the East 

 India Company's service, and held a commission from King 

 James I.f Little or no notice was taken of them from that 



* This plan of the Keeling Islands will be found in the third (Mr. 

 Darwin's) volume. 



t Of these facts I was credibly informed, on the authority of the late 

 Captain Horsburgh ; and presumptive evidence of their reality is afforded 

 by the following extract from the work of a well-known historian. 



Extract from a Summary of Universal Histor)', translated from the 

 French of M. Anquetil, First Edition, page 50. London, 1800 — 



In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a Venetian galley, deeply laden. 



