OF THE ISLANDS NEAR SINGAPORE. 597 
the reef just mentioned and bringing 1 with it the effluvium generated 
by the decomposition of the Polyps and other animal matters. Fur¬ 
ther to the west we have the village of Telloh Blanga or New Har¬ 
bour, the residence of H. H. the Malay chief, to which we have already 
adverted, and still further to the west we have a collection of huts 
to the number of 6 or 7 at a place called Passir Panjang, the num¬ 
ber of inhabitants being about 40, all of whom were healthy and ac¬ 
customed to be so. The beach there is composed of mud and sand, 
but at low tides coral is exposed ; behind the houses is a fresh 
water swamp of about 100 fathoms in length, but from which no 
active malaria arises, as men and children are healthy and look so. 
The last point of examination which I made was kampong Gelaui 15 
miles to the eastward of Singapore. This consists of 30 houses and 
numbers about 200 to 300 inhabitants. There is little or no coral 
exposed ; the surface soil and the beach is composed of Iron-clay- 
sfcone, a little ephemeral fever occurs, but intermittent or remittent 
fevers seldom or never. 
I have now brought before the reader the materials, the facts, on 
which I originally based my theory ; other strong and convincing 
confirmations have daily been brought to my notice, but will be re¬ 
served for a future number. On the facts now collated I must 
stand or fall, as from them I will draw my deductions. Around ma¬ 
ny of our islands near to this the island of Singapore, we have reefs 
of coral, formed by the labour of a small gelatinous body. This 
small animal in some species is so insignificant that 100 occupy a 
square inch, others are still smaller, so that 500 are comprised in 
that space ; fixed by their bodies and only protruding their tentacula 
through the sides or stars observed in the coral, and causing by the 
motion of their fimbriated extremities gentle currents in the medium 
they live in, by which their bodies are fed and filled with sea water, 
from which the animals, amongst the smallest of created beings, ex¬ 
tract the lime which exists in almost infinitesimal quantities, and 
with which they form a stony covering for themselves. At this work 
they proceed, adding compartment to compartment and building one 
story above another, hour by hour, day by day, until years, and cen¬ 
turies, and ages have elapsed, when, from depths unknown and per¬ 
haps unfathomable, they rise near the surface, when at a certain stage 
their place is taken by others and a different kind of coral is made 
suitable to that depth ; these again rise, their places being successive¬ 
ly taken at certain stages by others, until, having reached the surface, 
