310 



ISLAND LONG STATIONARY. 



of the island rises more than about twenty-five feet 

 above low water mark, and the rise and fall of tide 

 is about ten or twelve feet. 



The proof that this stone had not been formed 

 under water and subsequently elevated is, that it 

 contained fossil turtles' eggs in considerable abun- 

 dance. These animals always come upon dry ground, 

 and scratch holes in the sand in which to lay 

 their eggs, and these eggs being so deposited, and 

 having, from some reason, not been hatched, 

 had subsequently been consolidated with the sur- 

 rounding sand into stone. That the island has been 

 nearly in its present state for a long period of time 

 is shewn, I think, by the existence of a thickness of 

 nearly two feet of black vegetable mould in its 

 centre, the result of the decomposition of the few 

 vegetables that cover its surface, mingled with the 

 dung of the innumerable birds that inhabit it. 



On a reef, forming part, of the Great Barrier, 

 about twelve miles south-west of Rame's islet, 1 ob- 

 served a very remarkable, and, as far as I know, 

 unique fact, which seems to favour the idea of the 

 reef having been slightly elevated in that locality. 

 The mass of reef alluded to is two or three miles 

 long, and from a quarter to half a mile in width. 

 Near its southern extremity, and about fifty yards 

 from its inner edge, there is a range of large coral 

 blocks permanently above water. Immediately to 

 the south of them is a gap or channel of deep water 

 about a quarter of a mile wide, to the south of which 



