Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Coral reefs and islands; Geology -- South America; Islands; Volcanoes
_Sahia de Malha_bank consists of a series of narrow banks, with from
eight to sixteen fathoms on them; they are arranged in a semicircular
manner, round a space about forty fathoms deep, which slopes on the
S.E. quarter to unfathomable depths; they are steep-to on both sides,
but more especially on the ocean-side. Hence this bank closely
resembles in structure, and I may add from Captain Moresby’s
information in composition, the Pitt’s Bank in the Chagos group; and
the Pitt’s Bank, must, after what has been shown of the Great Chagos
Bank, be considered as a sunken, half-destroyed atoll; hence coloured
blue.—_Cargados Carajos Bank_. Its southern portion consists of a
large, curved, coral-shoal, with some low islets on its eastern edge,
and likewise some on the western side, between which there is a depth
of about twelve fathoms. Northward, a great bank extends. I cannot
(probably owing to the want of perfect charts) refer this reef and bank
to any class;—therefore not coloured.—_Ile de Sable_ is a little
island, lying west of C. Carajos, only some toises in height (“Voyage
of the ‘Favourite’,” volume i., page 130); it is surrounded by reefs;
but its structure is unintelligible to me. There are some small banks
north of it, of which I can find no clear account.—_Mauritius_. The
reefs round this island have been described in the chapter on
fringing-reefs; coloured red. —_Rodriguez_. The coral-reefs here are
exceedingly extensive; in one part they project even five miles from
the shore. As far as I can make out, there is no deep-water moat within
them; and the sea outside does not deepen very suddenly. The outline,
however, of the land appears to be (“Life of Sir J. Makintosh,” volume
ii., page 165) hilly and rugged. I am unable to decide whether these
reefs belong to the barrier class; as seems probable from their great
extension, or to the fringing class; uncoloured. —_Bourbon_. The
greater part of the shores of this island are without reefs; but
Captain Carmichael (Hooker’s “Bot. Misc.”) states that a portion,
fifteen miles in length, on the S.E. side, is imperfectly fringed with
coral reefs: I have not thought this sufficient to colour the island.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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