Considering the number of soundings on sand, obtained round the Maldiva and Chagos atolls, which appears to indicate a greater angle, and the extreme abruptness of the sand-banks in the West Indies, as will be mentioned in the Appendix, I must conclude that the adhesive property of wet sand counteracts its gravity, in a much greater ratio than has been allowed for by M. Élie de Beaumont. From the facility with which calcareous sand becomes agglutinated, it is not necessary to suppose that the bed of loose sand is thick. [6] The form of the bottom round the Marshall atolls in the Northern Pacific is probably similar: Kotzebue (“First Voyage,” volume ii., page 16.) says: “We had at a small distance from the reef, forty fathoms depth, which increased a little further so much that we could find no bottom.”) [7] I must be permitted to express my obligation to Captain Beechey, for the very kind manner in which he has given me information on several points, and to own the great assistance I have derived from his excellent published work. [8] Cook’s “Third Voyage,” volume ii., chapter 10. [9] This fact is taken from a MS. account of these groups lent me by Captain Moresby. See also Captain Moresby’s paper on the Maldiva atolls in the “Geographical Journal”, volume v., page 401. [10] Off some of the islands in the Low Archipelago the bottom appears to descend by ledges. Off Elizabeth Island, which, however, consists of raised coral, Captain Beechey (p. 45, quarto edition) describes three ledges: the first had an easy slope from the beach to a distance of about fifty yards: the second extended two hundred yards with twenty-five fathoms on it, and then ended abruptly, like the first; and immediately beyond this there was no bottom with two hundred fathoms. [11] “Mémoires pour servir à une description Géolog. de France,” tome iv., page 216.