Cfl. VI. DISTKIBUTION OF COEAL-KEEFS. 167 



I have described certain appearances, which seem 

 directly to show that the surface subsided there during 

 the late earthquakes. In the Caroline Archipelago, 

 the island of Pouynipete (Plate I. fig. 7), from being en- 

 circled by a great barrier-reef, must have subsided, in 

 accordance with our theory ; and in the New South 

 Wales Lit. Advert. Feb. 1835, there is an account of 

 this island, (subsequently confirmed by Mr. Campbell,) 

 in which it is said, ' At the N.E. end, at a place called 

 Tamen, there are ruins of a town, now only accessible 

 by boats, the waves reaching to the steps of the houses.' 

 Hence it would appear that the island must have sub- 

 sided since these houses were built. Mr. Hales also states, 

 from information acquired during the U. S. Exploring 

 Expedition, that certain buildings on this island are 

 now in the water : c what were once paths are now 

 passages for canoes, and when the walls are broken down 

 the water enters the enclosures.' 1 Vanikoro, according 

 to the Chevalier Dillon, is often violently shaken by 

 earthquakes, and there, the unusual depth of the channel 

 between the shore and the reef, the wall-like structure 

 on the inner side of the reef, the small quantity of low 

 alluvial land at the foot of the mountains, and the almost 

 entire absence of islets on the reef, all seem to show 

 that this island has not remained long at its present 

 level. 2 At the Society Archipelago, on the other hand, 



1 Professor Dana also concludes from these facts that the island 

 subsiding; see Corals and Coral Islands, 1872, p. 330. 



2 See Captain Dillon's Voyage in search of La Peyrouse. M. Cordier, 

 in his Report on the Voyage of the Astrolabe (vol. i. p. cxi.), speaking of 

 Vanikoro, says the shores are surrounded by reefs of madrepore, ' gu'on 

 assure etre de formation tout-a-fait moderne.'. 



