CORAL-REEFS. 169 



of the Marianas, is the only island in this part of the sea which 

 is fringed; it is ninety feet high, and consists entirely of 

 madreporitic rock. 1 



In the East Indian Archipelago, many authors have recorded 

 proofs of recent elevation. M. Lesson 2 states, that near Port 

 Dory, on the north coast of New Guinea, the shores are flanked, 

 to the height of 150 feet, by madreporitic strata of modern date. 

 He mentions similar formations at Waigiou, Amboina, Bourou, 

 Ceram, Sonda, and Timor : at this latter place, MM. Quoy and 

 Gaimard 3 have likewise described the primitive rocks, as coated 

 to a considerable height with coral. Some small islets east- 

 ward of Timor are said in Kolffs Voyage* to resemble small 

 coral islets upraised some feet above the sea. Dr. Malcolmson 

 informs me that Dr. Hardie found in Java an extensive for- 

 mation, containing an abundance of shells, of which the greater 

 part appear to be of existing species. Dr. Jack 5 has described 

 some upraised shells and corals, apparently recent, on Pulo 

 Nias off Sumatra; and Marsden relates in his history of this 

 great island, that the names of many promontories show that 

 they were originally islands. On part of the west coast of 

 Borneo and at the Sooloo Islands, the form of the land, the nature 

 of the soil, and the water-washed rocks, present appearances 6 



1 Lutke^s Voyage, vol. ii. p. 304. 



2 Partie Zoolog. , Voyage de la Coquille. 



3 Ann. des Scien. Nat., torn. vi. p. 281. 



4 Translated by Windsor Earl, chaps, vi., vii. 



5 Geolog. Transact., 2nd series, vol. i. p. 403. On the Peninsula of 

 Malacca, in front of Pinang, 5 30' N., Dr. Ward collected some shells, 

 which Dr. Malcolmson informs me, although not compared with 

 existing species, had a recent appearance. Dr. Ward describes in this 

 neighbourhood (Trans. Asiat. Soc, vol. xviii., part ii., p. 166) a single 

 water-worn rock, with a conglomerate of sea-shells at its base, situated 

 six miles inland, which, according to the traditions of the natives, was 

 once surrounded by the sea. Capt, Low has also described {ibid., part 

 i., p. 131) mounds of shells lying two miles inland on this line of coast. 



6 Notices of the East Indian Arch., Singapore, 1828, p. 6, and 

 Append., p. 43. 



