1850.] over the Northern Hemisphere, 303 



All around Suez there is a vast expanse of level plain extending from 

 two to twenty miles inland, diversified, here and there, with hillocks of 

 drifted sand, obviously the effect of the wind. A section of the ma- 

 terial of which the plain is composed is exhibited along the sea shore. 

 It is about eight feet above high water mark, and consists entirely of 

 sand, gravel, and shells perfectly fresh, and apparently of the same va- 

 rieties as those on the beach. This upheaval extends, with little or no 

 interruption, all the way to Aden, unless where the cliffs advance boldly 

 on the Sea. A similar beach, at a similar elevation, is found all around 

 the peninsula of Aden ; and though I have had no means of personally 

 determining the fact, I have no doubt it will be found all along the 

 Arabian coast, around the Persian Gulf, and so on to Scinde, and by 

 the shores of Goozerat and Cutch. Of the Delta of the Indus I shall 

 have occasion to speak by and bye, and so at present pass over Kur- 

 rachee. At Gogo, in the Gulf of Cambay, the raised beach is peculi* 

 arly conspicuous : the gravels and shells are here cemented into a variety 

 of stone on which I have bestowed the term " Littoral Concrete," from 

 its being always found near the shore, and from its resemblance to the 

 artificial building material called concrete. At Gogo it overlays a huge 

 mass of blue clay. With the interruption occasioned by the Delta of 

 the Taptee, the raised beach, mostly consisting of the material just 

 named, extends all along the shore to Bombay, and so on to the south- 

 ward ; and though I cannot speak from experience of the coast further 

 south than 19°, I have great reason to believe it to be continuous, and 

 feel almost certain that the specimens sent to me from Cochin, by Ge- 

 neral Cullen, belong to it. The upheaval in all these cases varies from 

 six to nine or fifteen feet above high- water mark, rarely attaining the 

 higher elevation. The same thing prevails around a large portion of 

 the shores of Ceylon. 



The Island of Mauritius is belted by an enormous coral reef through- 

 out its whole shore, excepting about ten miles. Between Savanne and 

 Bois-du-Cap the sea foams against a barrier of coral from five to fifteen 

 feet in height, and wears it into the most fantastic shapes. At a con- 

 siderable distance inland, and almost concealed by the trees and shrubs, 

 are two remarkable points or headlands of coral, from twenty to twenty- 

 five feet above the level of the sea. The Observatory of Port Louis is 

 built upon a stratum of coral ten feet above high-water mark. Blocks 



2 r 2 



