16S 
BAY OF AMPHILA. 
made for oiir departure from Ampliila. Before I quit it, it may 
not be amiss to introduce a few general remarks, made during 
my stay on the spot, respecting the islands, the coast and its in- 
habitants. 
The Bay of Amphila comprises an extent of sixteen miles 
along the coast, and from its outer island measures nearly twelve 
miles in depth, containing altogether thirteen islands, the native 
names of which, as far as they could be ascertained, are given 
in the chart. 
All these islands, excepting a small one in the middle of the 
Bay, are composed entirely of marine alluvies strongly cemented 
together and forming vast and solid masses, which may not im- 
properly be termed rock ; the surface being covered in parts only, 
with a thin layer of soil. The larger portion of these remains 
consists of corallines, madrepores, echini and a great variety of 
sea-shells of those species which appear to be still common in this 
sea. The heighth of the islands often exceeds thirty feet above 
the level of high-water mark, a circumstance which renders it dif- 
ficult to account for the process by which they have been formed. 
Mr. Dalrymple's hypothesis respecting the formation of coral 
islands has been very generally admitted to be correct, and indeed 
seems to account very satisfactorily for those not elevated more 
than one or two feet above the level of the ocean ; since the 
moment one point of coral rises to its surface, birds will of course 
resort to it, and there leave shells, bones, and other remains 
of their food, which in time producing vegetation, may con- 
tinually accumulate until the whole mass become a solid stratum 
of earth. But this does not solve the present difficulty, for, on the 
