GLEANINGS 
• IN 
SCIENCE. 
JVo. 22. — October, 1830. 
j 
I . — Some Account of the Cocos or Keeling Islands ; and of their recent 
Settlement . 
In the middle of the Indian Ocean, about 500 miles from the coast of Java, in 
lat. 12® South, long:. 97° East, there is a circular cluster of small islands, called the 
Cocos Islands, or Keeling Islands, from the name of the discoverer, Captain 
Keeling, who visited them in 1694. They are in general not more than \ mile in 
breadth, and they extend, with small intervals between them, in an irregularly cir- 
cular tigure, enclosing, as it were, a basin, the dimensions of which are about 18 
miles in length, and 10 in breadth. This circular band of islands owe their origin 
evidently to the series of actions, so well traced by Captain Krusenstern, in his view 
of the gradual transformation of a coral reef into a habitable island, to be at last 
possessed bv man. Accordingly they are surrounded by a barrier of coral reefs, 
of which they are doubtless nothing but the highest points, on which the usual 
changes have ended in producing a soil whereon chance seeds have taken root. 
These rocks or reefs render an approach to the islands difficult, if not impracti- 
cable, in every direction but one— on which side there is a narrow passage, also 
leading into the interior basin, with soundings of from 5 to 8 fathoms. The 
basin is evidently the hollow part of the reef, having soundings within the same 
limits, with rocky bottom ; and a vessel may ride in safety there, defended effectually 
by its surrounding barrier from the swell of the Indian Ocean, from whatever quar- 
ter the wind may blow. 
The situation of this cluster of islets seems particularly convenient for affording 
facilities to many branches of our Eastern commerce. Fresh water is obtainable 
from them of a perfectly wholesome quality. Many articles of repair for shipping 
may be had, besides the convenience of a perfectly safe harbour while refitting. 
Fresh provisions and vegetables might also be obtained with proper arrangement, 
sufficient for the wants of any number of ships likely to visit them for many years. 
They might even serve as a convenient entrepot for much of the trade in which 
England, Australasia, Mauritius, India and the Eastern Islands are engaged. To 
show how particularly fitted for these purposes these islands are, we may give the 
following as the nearest distances of the several places mentioned from them . 
31 1 1 CS • 
Batavia 793 
Swan River 1828 
Madras 2070 
Calcutta. 2432 
Port Louis 2673 
Hobart’s Town 3691 
Sydney 4450 (By Bass’ Straits.) 
Exposed to the full operation of the trade winds, with an inconsiderable surface, 
an <l distant 500 miles from the nearest land, these islands are blessed with a tem- 
plate, and above all, a salubrious climate. No jungles, as in many of the eastern 
settlements, engender a perpetually renewed stock of lebiile miasma— no low and 
SH aiupy pi a i ns are found, where the genius of pestilence delights to dwell, and snare 
