Ch. VI. DISTRIBUTION OF COKAL-REEFS. 179 



of inland reefs, and walls of coral rock worn into caves, above 

 the present reach of the waves, at the Loo Choo Islands, there 

 can be little doubt that they have been -upraised at no very 

 remote period. 



Dr. Davy 1 describes the northern province of Ceylon as 

 being very low, and composed of a limestone with shells and 

 corals of very recent origin ; he adds, that it does not admit of 

 a doubt that the sea has retired from this district even within 

 the memory of man. There is also some reason for believing 

 that the eastern shores of India, north of Ceylon, have been 

 upraised within the recent period. 2 On the opposite side of 

 the Gulf of Bengal, Captain Halstead everywhere found during 

 his survey of the Burmese coast (as he informed Sir C. Lyell), 

 proofs of recent elevation in upraised beaches and beds of 

 shells and corals. In the Indian Ocean Mauritius has been 

 recently upraised, as I have shown in the chapter on fringing - 

 reefs. The northern extremity of Madagascar is described by 

 Captain Owen 3 as formed of madreporitic rock, as likewise are 

 the shores and outlying islands along an immense space of 

 Eastern Africa, from a little north of the equator for 900 

 miles southward. Nothing can be more vague than the ex- 



1 Travels in Ceylon, p. 13. This madreporitic formation is men- 

 tioned by M. Cordier in his report to the Institute (May 4, 1839) on 

 the voyage of the Chevrette, as one of immense extent, and belonging to- 

 the latest tertiary period. 



2 Dr. Benza, in his Journey through the N. Circars (the Madras Lit. 

 and Scient. Journal, vol. v.), has described a formation with recent 

 freshwater and marine shells, occurring at the distance of three or four- 

 miles from the present shore. Dr. Benza, in conversation with me, 

 attributed their position to a rise of the land. Dr. Malcolmson, how- 

 ever, (and there cannot be a higher authority on the geology of India,) 

 informs me that he suspects that these beds may have been formed by 

 the mere action of the waves and currents accumulating sediment. From 

 analogy I should much incline to Dr. Benza's opinion. 



3 . Owen's Africa, vol. ii. p. 37, for Madagascar ; and for S. Africa, vol. i. 

 pp. 412 and 426. Lieut. Boteler's narrative contains fuller particulars 

 regarding the coral rock, vol. i. p. 174, and vol. ii. pp. 41 and 54. See- 

 also Kuschenberger's Voyage round the World, vol. i. p. 60. 



N 2 



