Ch. VI. DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS. 
181 
Basil Hall and Captain Beecliey 1 of tlie lines of inland 
reefs, and walls of coral rock worn into caves, above the 
present reach of the waves, at the Loo Choo Islands, there 
can be little doubt that they have been upraised at no very 
remote period. 
Dr. Davy 2 describes the northern province of Ceylon as 
being very low, and composed of a limestone with shells 
and corals of very recent origin ; he adds, that it does not 
admit of a doubt that the sea has retired from this district 
even within the memory of man. There is also some 
reason for believing that the eastern shores of India, north 
of Ceylon, have been upraised within the recent period . 3 
On the opposite side of the Gulf of Bengal, Captain Hal- 
stead everywhere found during his survey of the Burmese 
coast (as he informed Sir C. Lyell), proofs of recent eleva- 
tion in upraised beaches and beds of shells and corals. In 
the Indian Ocean Mauritius has been recently upraised, 
as I have shown in the chapter on fringing-reefs. The 
northern extremity of Madagascar is described by Captain 
Owen 4 as formed of madreporitic rock, as likewise are the 
1 Captain B. Hall, Voyage to Loo Choo, Append, pp. xxi. and xxv. 
Captain Beechey’s Voyage, p. 496. 
1 Travels in Ceylon, p. 13. This madreporitic formation is men- 
tioned by M. Cordier in his report to the Institute (May 4, 1839) on 
the voyage of the Chevrette, as one of immense extent, and belonging 
to the latest tertiary period. 
3 Dr. Benza, in his Journey through the N. Circars (the Madras 
Lit. and Scient. Journal, vol. v.), has described a formation with 
recent freshwater and marine shells, occurring at the distance of 
three or four miles from the present shore. Dr. Benza, in conver- 
sation with me, attributed their position to a rise of the land. Dr. 
Malcolmson, however, (and there cannot be a higher authority on 
the geology of India,) informs me that he suspects that these beds 
may have been formed by the mere action of the waves and currents 
accumulating sediment. From analogy I should much incline to 
Dr. Benza’s opinion. 
4 Owen’s Africa, vol. ii. p. 37, for Madagascar ; and for S. Africa, 
*ol. i. pp. 412 and 426. Lieut. Boteler’s narrative contains fuller 
