WEST INDIES. 261 



banks. The charts represent the southern part of the Isle 

 of Pines as fringed by reefs, which the Columb. Navig. says 

 extend some way from the coast, but have only from 9 to 

 12 feet of water on them ; these are coloured red. — I have 

 not been able to procure any detailed description of the large 

 group of banks and ' cays ' further eastward on the southern 

 side of Cuba ; within them there is a large expanse, with a 

 muddy bottom, from 8 to 12 fathoms deep : although some 

 parts on this line of coast are represented in the general 

 charts of the West Indies, as fringed, I have not thought it 

 prudent to colour them. The remaining portion of the south 

 coast of Cuba appears to be without coral-reefs. 



Yucutan. — The N.E. part of the promontory appears, in 

 Captain Owen's charts, to be fringed ; coloured red. The 

 eastern coast from 20° to 18° is fringed. South of lat. 18°, 

 there commences the most remarkable reef in the West Indies : 

 it is about 130 miles in length, ranging in a N. and S. line, at 

 an average distance of 15 miles from the coast. The islets on 

 it are all low, as I have been informed by Captain B. Allen ; 

 the water deepens suddenly on the outside of the reef, but not 

 more abruptly than off many of the sedimentary banks : 

 within its southern extremity (off Honduras) the depth is 

 25 fathoms ; but in the more northern parts, the depth soon 

 decreases to 10 fathoms, and within the northernmost part, for 

 a space of 20 miles, the depth is only from one to two 

 fathoms. In most of these respects we have the character- 

 istics of a barrier-reef; nevertheless, from observing, first, 

 that the channel within the reef is a continuation of a great 

 irregular bay, which penetrates the main land to the depth of 

 50 miles; and secondly, that considerably spaces of this 

 barrier-like reef (for instance, in lat. 16° 45' and 16° 12') 

 are described in the charts as formed of pure sand; and 

 thirdly, from knowing that sediment is accumulating in many 

 parts of the West Indies in banks parallel to the shore ; I 

 have not ventured to colour this reef as a barrier. To add 



