RAISED CORAL REEF. 



383 



to them. Judging from this smooth outline also, it 

 appears to stretch a long way into the interior of 

 the country, over all the lower ridges, rising to 

 a height, perhaps of one or two thousand feet above 

 the sea at least, as ranges or table lands of that 

 height are seen in the north-east strongly contrasted 

 in their outline, with the broken and rugged hills that 

 in the heartof the country rise probably seven or eight 

 thousand feet above the sea. Notwithstanding this 

 smoothness of outline, when viewed from a distance, 

 1 have no doubt that even the lower ranges arc rug- 

 ged enough when they come to be traversed, being 

 broken by abrupt valleys and ravines ; although the 

 higher ground preserves a mean, regular and gentle 

 slope from the interior towards the sea. This lime- 

 stone near Coupang is dark externally, frequently 

 very hard, but white and softer when broken open. 

 Its surface, both that of the beds and the face of its 

 cliffs, is rugged and full of holes, having a honey- 

 combed appearance, and with its embedded corals, 

 and shells, it put me exactly in mind of some of 

 the higher portions of a coral reef, where it is per- 

 manently or commonly above the reach of the water. 

 The beds are thick, often six feet, but irregular, 

 and appear always in a horizontal position, or nearly 

 so. The most common corals are majandrina, 

 astraea, and porites ; the masses not large. They 

 are frequently more or less crystalline when broken 

 open, but not more so than old blocks of coral 

 lying loose on the beach above existing fringing 



