SL'B-RECENT MAUINE BEDS. 73 



waram island that the latter must have been upraised several feet within 

 a comparatively recent period, but unfortunately there are no data by 

 which to calculate the exact amount of the upheaval. The upheaval 

 which affected Ramesvvaram island doubtless affected the adjoining main- 

 land, and by upraising the coast exposed the sandstones which have been 

 described above as forming a low wall-like cliff bordering the beach as 

 if a built quay. A piece of evidence connecting the old coral reef directly 

 with the " quay " sandstones is afforded by the occurrence, about half a 



mile east of Kilakarai (Keelacurray, a small sea- 

 Counection of coral cm -i^ \ Ji 



"quay" sandstone at port 26 miles west 01 Famban btraits), or an 



isolated mass of coral exposed in the sandstone 



cliff. The coral which in appearance and condition is identical with that 



of the old reef east of Pamban occurs as a rudely conical agglomeration 



of meandrine masses measuring about a yard in diameter and 4| feet 



to 5 feet in height with the sandstone deposited regularly around and 



over it. This isolated coral mass evidently remains in situ as it had grown. 



It is impossible to resist the speculation that it was this upheaval 



which gave rise to the formation of what is known to the Hindus as 



Rama's bridge, and to Mussalmans and Christians as Adam's bridge. 



Formation of Adam's ^^ \owg narrow isthmus which once united Ceylon 



^"'^^®* to India. As soon as the surface of the old reef 



become dry land, it would begin to arrest the currents, and the surf and 



wind action around the coasts would throw up the sand dunes which now 



so thickly cover both Rameswaram island and the long narrow peninsula 



known as the Tonitoi'ay spit on the western side of Pamban Straits. To 



this same elevatory action may also safely be attributed the formation of 



the long line of islets running parallel with the south coast of the Madura 



district, and trending southward as the Tinnevelly coast is approached. 



Local tradition, if not history, claims that Rameswaram island was once 



conipletely joined to the terra firma on both sides, and that both the 



Pamban Strait and the various breaches to the 

 Its destruction. 



eastward have since arisen by a catachysm in the 



form of a tremendous storm which breached the narrow rocky barrier 



about the year 1480 A. D. The chief of Ramnad (properly liamanada- 



( 73 ) 



