172 CORAL-REEFS. 



Dr. Malcolm son (as he informs me) collected from the cliffs of 

 Camaran Island (Lat. 15 30' S.) shells and corals, apparently- 

 recent, at a height between 30 and 40 feet ; and Mr. Salt 

 {Travels in Abyssinia) describes a similar formation a little 

 southward on the opposite shore at Amphila. Moreover, near 

 the mouth of the Gulf of Suez, although on the coast opposite 

 to that on which Dr. Riippell says that the modern beds attain 

 a height of only 30 to 40 feet, Mr. Burton 1 found a deposit 

 replete with existing species of shells, at the height of 200 feet. 

 In an admirable series of drawings by Capt. Moresby, I could 

 see how continuously the cliff-bounded low plains of this forma- 

 tion extended with a nearly equable height, both on the eastern 

 and western shores. The southern coast of Arabia seems to 

 have been subjected to the same elevatory movement, for Dr. 

 Malcolmson found at Sahar low cliffs containing shells and 

 corals, apparently of recent species. 



The Persian Gulf abounds with coral-reefs; but as it is 

 difficult to distinguish them from sand-banks in this shallow 

 sea, I have coloured only some near the mouth; towards the 

 head of the gulf Mr. Ains worth 2 says that the land is worn into 

 terraces, and that the beds contain organic remains of existing 

 forms. The West Indian Archipelago of 'fringed' islands, 

 alone remains to be mentioned ; evidence of an elevation within 

 a late tertiary epoch of nearly the whole of this great area, may 

 be found in the works of almost all the naturalists who have 

 visited it. I will give some of the principal references in a 

 note. 



1 Lyell's Principles of Geology, 5th edition, vol. iv. p. 25. 



2 Ainsworth's Assyria and Babylon, p. 217. 



3 On Florida and the north shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Rogers' 

 Report to Brit. Assoc. , vol. iii. p. 14.— On the shores of Mexico, Hum- 

 boldt, Polit. Essay on New Spain, vol. i. p. 62. (I have also some 

 corroborative facts with respect to the shores of Mexico.) — Honduras 

 and the Antilles, Lyell's Principles, 5th ed., vol. iv. p. 22. — Santa Cruz 

 and Barbadoes, Prof. Hovey, Silliman's Journ. t vol. xxx. p. 74. — St. 

 Domingo, Courrojolles, four, de Phys.> torn. liv. p. 106. — Bahamas, 

 United Service fournal, No. lxxi. pp. 218 and 224. Jamaica, De la 



