EAST-INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 239 



circumstance in the China Sea ; the sea close outside these reefs 

 is deep; several of them have a lagoon-like structure; in 

 other cases separate islets {Prattle, Robert, Drummond, &c.) 

 are so arranged round a moderately shallow space as to ap- 

 pear as if they had once formed one large atoll. — Bombay 

 Shoal (one of the Paracells) has the form of an annular reef, 

 and is ' apparently deep within ;' it seems to have an entrance 

 (Horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 332) on the west side ; it is very steep 

 outside. — Discovery Shoal, also, is of an oval form, with a 

 lagoon-like space within, and three openings leading into it, in 

 which there is a depth from 2 to 20 fathoms. Outside, 

 at the distance (Horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 333) of only 20 

 yards from the reef, soundings could not be obtained. The 

 Paracells are coloured blue. — Macclesfield Bank is a coral 

 bank of great size, lying east of the Paracells ; some parts are 

 level, with a sandy bottom, but generally the depth is very 

 irregular, and intersected by deep channels ; not coloured. — 

 Scarborough Shoal : this coral shoal is engraved with a 

 double row of crosses, forming a circle, as if there was deep 

 water within the reef: close outside no bottom was found 

 with a hundred fathoms ; coloured blue.— The sea off the 

 west coast of Palawan and the northern part of Borneo is 

 strewed with shoals : Swallow Shoal, according to Horsburgh 

 (vol. ii. p. 431), ' is formed, like most of the shoals hereabouts,, 

 of a belt of coral-rocks, with a basin of deeper water within.' 

 — Half-Moon Shoal has a similar structure ; Captain D. Ross 

 describes it as a narrow belt of coral-rock, ' with a basin of 

 deeper water in the centre,' and deep sea close outside. — Bom- 

 bay Shoal appears (Horsburgh, vol. ii. p. 432) i to be a basin 

 of smooth water surrounded by breakers.' I have coloured 

 these three shoals blue. — The Paraquas Shoals are of a cir- 

 cular form, with deep gaps running through them ; not 

 coloured. A bank, gradually shoaling to the depth of 30 

 fathoms, extends to a distance of about 20 miles from the 

 northern part of Borneo, and to 30 miles from the northern 



