74 SUMMER ISLANDS AND A SUMMER SEA 



exaggerated scale, owing to the larger size of the 

 Godavari and the greater volume of its sediment. As 

 regards possibilities of danger this coast is even worse 

 than the Orissa coast, for the sea is even shoaler and 

 the land even lower and less visible from afar : it is 

 also more frequented by ships, for inside the northern- 

 most spit thrown out by the Godavari delta is Coconada, 

 one of the principal ports of the Madras Presidency. 

 Two large lighthouses showing powerful fixed lights 

 stand within ii miles of each other, one on 

 either side of the approaches to the port ; but safety 

 in navigation here depends almost entirely on the use 

 of the lead. 



The survey of the Sacramento shoal occupied u^ 

 until the 9th of April, and then we made for Port 

 Blair, to pick up the Andaman boat party which had 

 been left behind in October, preparatory to bringing 

 our sea-work to an end before the onset of the south- 

 west monsoon. 



We had a magnificent passage across the Bay 

 from Coconada, almost due south-east in a straight 

 line, to Cape Bluff on the west coast of Middle 

 Andaman Island, and we utilised it in running a line 

 of soundings between these points. These disclosed 

 the facts, that although within 20 miles of the Godavari 

 coast, the sea-bed shelves very gently, yet between 20 

 and 60 miles it falls steeply to a depth of 1460 fathoms ; 

 and that, from a point within 100 miles of shore, fo 



