166 DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-KEEFS. Ch. VI. 



gated than is usual, and the individual atolls in it are 

 likewise but little elongated ; this is strikingly seen by 

 comparing them with the neighbouring Maldiva atolls. 

 In the Marshall and Maldiva archipelagoes, the atolls 

 are ranged in two parallel lines, like a great double 

 mountain-chain. Some of the atolls in the larger 

 archipelagoes stand so near to each other, and have such 

 an evident relationship, that they compose little sub- 

 groups ; in the Caroline Archipelago, one such sub-group 

 consists of Pouynipete, a lofty island encircled by a 

 barrier-reef, and separated by a channel only four miles 

 and a half in width from Andeema atoll, with a second 

 atoll a little further removed. 



On the direct evidence of the blue spaces in the map 

 having subsided during the upward growth of the 

 reefs thus colour ed, and of the red spaces having 

 remained stationary ', or having been upraised. — "With 

 respect to subsidence, we cannot expect to obtain in 

 semi-civilized countries proofs of a movement which 

 tends to conceal its own evidence. But on coral-islands 

 we see plain signs of a round of decay and renovation — 

 on some, the last vestiges of land — its first commence- 

 ment on others : we hear of storms washing away and 

 desolating the islets to an extent which astonished the 

 inhabitants ; we know by the great fissures with which 

 some of these islands are traversed, and by the earth- 

 quakes felt under others, that subterranean disturbances 

 are in progress. All these appearances accord well with 

 the belief that these islands have recently subsided ; 

 though not proving the fact. At Keeling atoll, however, 



