I 
BAY OF AMPHILA. 169 
islands I am describing, large pieces of madrepore are found, 
disposed in regular layers, full twenty feet above the level of high 
water mark, and for this circumstance no satisfactory reason, in 
my opinion, can be assigned, but the supposition of the sea hav- 
ing retired since they have been so deposited. 
The small island, which I have mentioned as different from the 
rest, consists of a solid rock of calcareous stone, through which 
run veins of calcedony. On the east side of it is a large cave, 
used by the masters of dows frequenting this bay as a store- 
house, for laying up their goods ; and from this circumstance, as 
we could not ascertain its native appellation, we named it Safety 
Island. 
The shores to windward of these islands are^ in general, steep 
to ; and, when the weather is foul, difficult of approach, owing to 
the encroachments of the sea, which have undermined the rocks^ 
leaving in many places singular- shaped pillars and hollow caves, 
bearing a strong resemblance to works of art. On the leeward 
side a grove of rack trees is commonly found, particularly conve- 
nient for supplying fire-wood to vessels, and the natives will 
permit any quantity to be cut down for a few dollars. 
One of the islands named Kutto, appears at some distant time to 
have been inhabited, as the ruins of stone houses and a fort plainly 
shew ; the latter was evidently intended to command the passage 
leading into an inner harbour, adjacent to the village of Duroro. 
There also exists in the centre of the same island, a connected set 
of four large cisterns, excavated in the shape of a cross, each of 
which is thirty feet long, nine broad, and seven high, all of which 
are lined with chanam ; these, when filled, would hold, at a 
