Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Coral reefs and islands; Geology -- South America; Islands; Volcanoes
In the _East Indian Archipelago_, many authors have recorded proofs of
recent elevation. M. Lesson[20] states, that near Port Dory, on the
north coast of New Guinea, the shores are flanked, to the height of 150
feet, by madreporitic strata of modern date. He mentions similar
formations at Waigiou, Amboina, Bourou, Ceram, Sonda, and Timor: at
this latter place, MM. Quoy and Gaimard[21] have likewise described the
primitive rocks, as coated to a considerable height with coral. Some
small islets eastward of Timor are said in Kolff’s “Voyage,”[22] to
resemble small coral islets upraised some feet above the sea. Dr.
Malcolmson informs me that Dr. Hardie found in _Java_ an extensive
formation, containing an abundance of shells, of which the greater part
appear to be of existing species. Dr. Jack[23] has described some
upraised shells and corals, apparently recent, on Pulo Nias off
_Sumatra;_ and Marsden relates in his history of this great island,
that the names of many promontories, show that they were originally
islands. On part of the west coast of _Borneo_ and at the _Sooloo
Islands_, the form of the land, the nature of the soil, and the
water-washed rocks, present appearances[24] (although it is doubtful
whether such vague evidence is worthy of mention), of having recently
been covered by the sea; and the inhabitants of the Sooloo Islands
believe that this has been the case. Mr. Cuming, who has lately
investigated, with so much success, the natural history of the
_Phillippines_, found near Cabagan, in Luzon, about fifty feet above
the level of the R. Cagayan, and seventy miles from its mouth, a large
bed of fossil shells: these, he informs me, are of the same species
with those now existing on the shores of the neighbouring islands. From
the accounts given us by Captain Basil Hall and Captain Beechey[25] of
the 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.
[20] Partie Zoolog., “Voyage de la ‘Coquille’.”
[21] “Ann. des Scien. Nat.” tom. vi., page 281.
[22] Translated by Windsor Earl, chapters vi., vii.
[23] “Geolog. Transact.” 2nd series, volume i., page 403. On the
Peninsula of Malacca, in front of Pinang, 5° 30′ N., Dr. Ward
collected some shells, which Dr. Malcolmson informs me, although not
compared with existing species, had a recent appearance. Dr. Ward
describes in this neighbourhood (“Trans. Asiat. Soc.” volume xviii.,
part ii., page 166) a single water-worn rock, with a conglomerate of
sea-shells at its base, situated six miles inland, which, according to
the traditions of the natives, was once surrounded by the sea. Captain
Low has also described (Ibid., part i., page 131) mounds of shells
lying two miles inland on this line of coast.
[24] “Notices of the East Indian Arch.” Singapore, 1828, page 6, and
Append., page 43.
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