170 CORAL-REEFS. 



(although it is doubtful whether such vague evidence is worthy 

 of mention) of having recently been covered by the sea; and 

 the inhabitants of the Sooloo Islands believe that this has 

 been the case. Mr. Cuming, who has lately investigated, with 

 so much success, the natural history of the Philippines, found 

 near Cabagan, in Luzon, about fifty feet above the level of the 

 R. Cagayan, and seventy miles from its mouth, a large bed of 

 fossil shells : these, he informs me, are of the same species with 

 those now existing on the shores of the neighbouring islands. 

 From the accounts given us by Capt. Basil Hall and Capt. 

 Beechey 1 of the lines of inland reefs, and walls of coral-rock 

 worn into caves, above the present reach of the waves, at the 

 Loo C/wo Islands, there can be little doubt that they have been 

 upraised at no very remote period. 



Dr. Davey 2 describes the northern province of Ceylon as 

 being very low, and consisting of a limestone with shells and 

 corals of very recent origin ; he adds, that it does not admit of 

 a doubt that the sea has retired from this district even within 

 the memory of man. There is also some reason for believing 

 that the western shores of India, north of Ceylon, have been 

 upraised within the recent period. 8 Mauritius has certainly 

 been upraised within the recent period, as I have stated in the 



1 Capt. B. Hall, Voyage to Loo Choo, Append., pp. xxi. and xxv. 

 Capt. Beechey's Voyage, p. 496. 



2 Travels in Ceylon, p. 13. This madreporitic formation is men- 

 tioned by M. Cordier in his report to the Institute (May 4th, 1839), on 

 the voyage of the Chevrette, as one of immense extent, and belonging to 

 the latest tertiary period. 



3 Dr. Benza, in his Journey through the N. Circars (the Madras Lit. 

 and Sc lent. Journ., vol. v.), has described a formation with recent fresh- 

 water and marine shells, occurring at the distance of three or four miles 

 from the present shore. Dr. Benza, in conversation with me, attributed 

 their position to a rise of the land. Dr. Malcolmson, however (and 

 there cannot be a higher authority on the geology of India), informs 

 me that he suspects that these beds may have been formed by the mere 

 action of the waves and currents accumulating sediment. From analogy 

 I should much incline to Dr. Benza's opinion. 



