CORAL-REEFS. 165 



evidence being only negative, we are, in some degree, 

 enabled to ascertain the correctness of the parts coloured 

 red on the map, by the direct testimony of upraised organic 

 remains of a modern date. Before going into the details 

 on this head (printed in small type), I may mention, that 

 when reading a memoir on coral formations by MM. Quoy 

 and Gaimard 1 I was astonished to find, for I knew that 

 they had crossed both the Pacific and Indian Oceans, that 

 their descriptions were applicable only to reefs of the fringing 

 class; but my astonishment ended satisfactorily, when I 

 discovered that, by a strange chance, all the islands which 

 these eminent naturalists had visited, though several in 

 number, — namely, the Mauritius, Timor, New Guinea, the 

 Mariana, and Sandwich Archipelagoes, could be shown by 

 their own statements to have been elevated within a recent 

 geological era. 



In the eastern half of the Pacific, the Sandwich Islands are 

 all fringed, and almost every naturalist who has visited them, 

 has remarked on the abundance of elevated corals and shells, 

 apparently identical with living species. The Rev. W. Ellis 

 informs me, that he has noticed round several parts of Hawaii, 

 beds of coral-detritus, about twenty feet above the level of 

 the sea, and where the coast is low they extend far inland. 

 Upraised coral-rock forms a considerable part of the borders of 

 Oahu ; and at Elizabeth Island 2 it composes three strata, each 

 about ten feet thick. Nihau, which forms the northern, as 

 Hawaii does the southern end of the group (350 miles in 

 length), likewise seems to consist of coral and volcanic rocks. 

 Mr. Couthouy 3 has lately described with interesting details, 

 several upraised beaches, ancient reefs with their surfaces 



1 Annates des Sciences Nat., torn. vi. p. 279, etc. 



2 Zoology of Capt. Beecheys Voyage, p. 176. See also MM. Quoy 

 and Gaimard in Annates des Scien. Nat., torn. vi. 



3 Remarks on Coral Formation, p. 51. 



