Ch. VI. DISTRIBUTION OR CORAL-REEFS. 
1 75 
scriptions applied only to reefs of the fringing class, for 
I knew that they had crossed both the Pacific and Indian 
Oceans ; but my surprise ended in satisfaction, when I 
discovered that all the islands which they had visited, 
though several in number — namely, Mauritius, Timor, 
New Guinea, the Mariana and Sandwich Archipelagoes 
- — could be shown by their own statements to have 
been elevated within a recent geological period. 
I will now enter on some details, showing how many of 
the islands and coasts which from being fringed with reefs 
are coloured red on our map, have been recently upraised. 
Sandwich Islands . — Several of these islands are fringed 
with reefs, though Dana found very few corals at Hawaii ; 
and almost every naturalist who has visited them has there 
observed upraised corals and shells, apparently identical 
with living species. The Kev. W. Ellis informs me that 
lie noticed round several parts of Hawaii, beds of coral 
detritus, about twenty feet above the level of the sea, and 
where the coast is low they extend far inland. Upraised 
coral-rock forms a considerable part of the borders of Oahu ; 
and at Elizabeth Island 1 it composes three strata, each 
about ten feet thick. Nihau, which forms the northern, as 
Hawaii does the southern end of the group (350 miles in 
length), likewise seems to consist of coral and volcanic 
rocks. Mr. Couthouy 2 has lately described several upraised 
beaches and ancient reefs with their surfaces perfectly pre- 
served, as well as beds of recent shells and corals, at the 
Islands of Maui, Morokai, Oahu, and Tauai (or Kauai), all 
in this group. Mr. Pierce, an intelligent resident at Oahu, 
is convinced, from changes which have taken place within 
his memory during the last sixteen years, ‘ that the eleva- 
1 Zoology of Captain Beechey’s Voyage, p. 176. See also MM. 
Quoy and Gaimard in Annales des Sciences Nat. tom. vi. 
2 Remarks on Coral Formations, p. 51. 
