382 



CORAL LIMKSTONE. 



dred rupees on the master of a vessel for leaving any 

 of his crew behind ashore ; he had accordingly ap- 

 plied to the Dutch authorities, and the police were 

 now after these men, for which the expense would 

 be ten rupees a man when they were caught. 



Our short stay at Coupang did not alW of any 

 very extended examination, more especially as in 

 these ardent climates it is impossible to work out of 

 doors in the heat of the day. From daylight, till 

 ten or eleven o'clock, and about an hour before 

 sunset, is all that can with safety be devoted to 

 exercise in the sun. 1 was enabled, however, to 

 procure the following facts in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Coupang. The little rocky headlands 

 on the coast, and the small cliffs bounding the valley 

 on both sides above the town, expose beds of 

 recent limestone. This limestone is full of corals 

 and shells, apparently all of recent species, and is in 

 fact nothing more or less than a raised coral reef, 

 although belonging probably to the class called fring- 

 ing reefs by Mr. Darwin, and not having any very 

 great thickness. Indeed, about half a mile above 

 the town, there is an exposure of subjacent rock of 

 a totally different character, on which this coral 

 limestone rests, having there a thickness certainly 

 not greater than 200 feet. In general, however, it 

 appears to form the whole surface of the country ; 

 rises behind Coupang to a height of full GOO feet 

 above the sea, spreading over all the adjacent high 

 lands, and giving a rather smooth and level outline 



