FRINGING AND BARRIER REEFS. 35 
Passing to the large islands Vanwa Levu and Viti Levu, we observe 
the same peculiarities illustrated on a much grander scale. Along 
the southern shores of Viti Levu, the coral reef lies close against the 
coast; and the same is seen on the east side and north extremity 
of Vanua Levu. But on the west side of these islands, this reef 
stretches far off from the land, and in some parts is even twenty-five 
miles distant, with a broad sea within. This sea, however, is ob- 
structed by reefs, and besides, along the shores there are proper 
fringing reefs. 
The forms of encircling reefs depend evidently to a great extent 
on that of the land they enclose. ‘That this is the case even in 
the Argo Reef and such other examples as offer now but a single 
rock above the surface of the enclosed ]agoon, we shall endeavour 
to make apparent, if not already so, when the cause of the forms of 
coral islands is under discussion. Yet it is also evident that this 
correspondence is not exact, for many parts of the shores, or even 
more than half the coast, may be exposed to the sea, while other 
portions are protected by a wide barrier. 
In recapitulation, we remark, that reefs around islands may be 
(1) entirely encircling; or they may be (2) confined to a larger or a 
smaller portion of the coast, either continuous or interrupted: they 
may (3) constitute throughout a distant barrier; or (4) the reef may 
be fringing in one part and a barrier in another; or (5) it may be 
fringing alone: the barrier may be (6) at great distances from the 
shores, with a wide sea within, or (7) it may so unite to the frmging 
reef that the channel between will hardly float a canoe. ‘These 
several points are fully sustained by all reef regions. 
A wide difference in the extent of reefs would be inferred from 
these facts. There is the mere point of coral rock; and again, as 
for example, west of the two large F'eejee islands, there may be three 
thousand square miles of continuous reef-ground, occupied with 
coral patches and intermediate channels or seas. The enclosing 
barrier off Vanua Levu alone is more than one hundred miles long. 
The Exploring Isles, in the eastern part of the Feejee Group, have 
a barrier eighty miles in circuit. New Caledonia, as often cited, has 
a reef along its whole western shores, a distance of two hundred and 
fifty miles, and it extends one hundred and fifty miles farther north, 
adding this much to the length of the island. The great Australian 
barrier forms a broken line, a thousand miles in length, lying off 
the coast from the Northern Cape to the tropical circle; and the 
