202 HROWN & HERON : GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF TAVOY. 



shells on death. Accumulation thus proceeds very rapidly and 

 every stage may be seen, from a sandspit with open water behind, 

 to a flat just about high-water level, which by drainage and 

 embanking may be made suitable for paddy cultivation. 



The position of the entrance channel near the south in every 

 case is perhaps to be explained by the angle at which the monsoon 

 current meets the coast. The bays face westwards and the monsoon 

 waves come from the south or south-west, so that the southern 

 shore of each bay is sheltered, while the northern horn is exposed 

 and sand is piled up on it. Once a. sandbank is established, the 

 tidal drift t which sets parallel to the coast, tends to lengthen it, 

 by distributing debris to north and south ; the tidal current also 

 carries in sand from the exposed headlands, where it is produced 

 by the disintegration of the granite, to sheltered bays where it 

 Gollects or drifts into the lagoons. 



