EAST-INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 
237 
there is a depth of between 30 and 40 fathoms round these 
islands. Parts of the shore of Sunda Straits, where the 
water is from 40 to 80 fathoms deep, and the islets near 
Batavia appear in several charts to be fringed. In the 
Dutch chart the southern shore, in the narrowest part of 
the island, is in two places fringed by reefs of coral. West 
of Segorroivodce Bay, and the extreme S.E. and E. shores 
are likewise fringed by coral-reefs ; all the above-mentioned 
places coloured red. 
Macassar Strait : the east coast of Borneo appears, in 
most parts, free from reefs, and where they occur, as on the 
coast of Pamaroong, the sea is very shallow ; hence no part 
is coloured. In Macassar Strait itself, in about lat. 2° S., 
there are many small islands with coral shoals pro- 
jecting far from them. There are also (old charts by Dal- 
rymple) numerous little flats of coral, not rising to the 
surface of the water, and shelving suddenly from five 
fathoms to no bottom with 50 fathoms ; they do not appear 
to have a lagoon-like structure. There are similar coral- 
shoals a little farther south ; and in lat. 4° 55' there are 
two, which are engraved from modern surveys, in a manner 
which may represent an annular reef with deep water 
inside : Capt. Moresby, however, who was formerly in this 
sea, doubts this fact, so that I have left them uncoloured : 
at the same time I may remark, that these two shoals make 
a nearer approach to the atoll-like structure than any other 
within the E. Indian Archipelago. Southward of these 
shoals there are other low islands and irregular coral-reefs ; 
and in the space of sea, north of the great volcanic chain, 
from Timor to Java, we have other islands, such as the 
Postillions, Kalatoa, Tokan-Bessees, &c., which are chiefly 
low, and are surrounded by very irregular and distant reefs. 
From the imperfect charts I have seen, I have not been 
able to decide whether they belong to the atoll or barrier 
class, or whether they merely fringe submarine banks, 
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