32 CORAL FORMATIONS. 
should be covered with forests, and the shores with groves and native 
villages. The coral platform which borders the shore is represented 
with its usual uneven outline,—its broad harbours with a narrow 
entrance,—and to the left, an irregular ship channel running between 
the inner or fringing reef, and the outer or barrier. At asingle place, 
the sea is faced by a cliff; and here, owing to the boldness of the 
shores and depth of waters, the reef is wanting. To the right there 
is only a fringing reef. 
Coral islands. —Coral islands resemble the reefs just described, 
except that a lake or lagoon is encircled instead of a mountainous 
island. A narrow rim of coral reef, generally but a few hundred 
yards wide, stretches around the enclosed waters. In some parts it is 
so low that the waves are still dashing over it into the lagoon; and in 
others, it is verdant with the rich foliage of the tropics. The coral- 
made land when highest is seldom over eight or ten feet in height. 
When first seen from the deck of a vessel, only a series of dark 
points is descried just above the horizon. Shortly after, the points 
enlarge into the plumed tops of cocoanut trees, and a line of green, 
interrupted at intervals, is traced along the water’s surface. Ap- 
proaching still nearer, the lake and its belt of verdure are spread out 
before the eye, and a scene of more interest can scarcely be imagined. 
The surf beating loud and heavy along the margin of the reef, presents 
a strange contrast to the prospect beyond—the white coral beach, the 
massy foliage of the grove, and the embosomed lake with its tiny 
islets. The colour of the lagoon waters is often as blue as the 
ocean, although but fifteen or twenty fathoms deep; yet shades of 
green and yellow are intermingled, where patches of sand or coral- 
knolls are near the surface; and the green is a delicate apple-shade, 
quite unlike the usual muddy tint of shallow waters. 
The belt of verdure, though sometimes continuous around the 
lagoon is usually broken in some parts into islets which are separated 
by varying intervals of bare reef; and through one or more of these 
intervals, a ship-channel occasionally opens into the lagoon, the larger 
coral islands are thus a string of islands arranged along a line of coral 
reef. The King of the Maldives bears the high-sounding title of 
“Tbrahim Sultan King of the Thirteen Atollons and Twelve Thousand 
Isles ;”’ which Captain W. IF. W. Owen, R.N., remarks is no ex- 
aggeration.* 
* See Journal of the Geographical Society, ii. 72.—According to Captain Owen, who 
