Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — CompleteDarwin, Charles
Science
Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — Complete
Darwin, Charles
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Coral reefs and islands; Geology -- South America; Islands; Volcanoes
FRIENDLY ARCHIPELAGO.—_Pylstaart_ Island. Judging from the chart in
Freycinet’s “Atlas,” I should have supposed that it had been regularly
fringed; but as nothing is said in the “Hydrog. Memoir” (or in the
“Voyage” of Tasman, the discoverer) about coral-reefs, I have left it
uncoloured.—_Tongatabou_: In the “Atlas of the Voyage of the
_Astrolabe_,” the whole south side of the island is represented as
narrowly fringed by the same reef which forms an extensive platform on
the northern side. The origin of this latter reef, which might have
been mistaken for a barrier-reef, has already been attempted to be
explained, when giving the proofs of the recent elevation of this
island.—In Cook’s charts the little outlying island also of _Eoaigee_,
is represented as fringed; coloured red.—_Eoua._ I cannot make out from
Captain Cook’s charts and descriptions, that this island has any reef,
although the bottom of the neighbouring sea seems to be corally, and
the island itself is formed of coral-rock.
Forster, however, distinctly (“Observations,” p. 14) classes it with
high islands having reefs, but it certainly is not encircled by a
barrier-reef and the younger Forster (“Voyage,” vol. i, p. 426) says,
that “a bed of coral-rocks surrounded the coast towards the
landing-place.” I have therefore classed it with the fringed islands
and coloured it red. The several islands lying N.W. of Tongatabou,
namely _Anamouka, Komango, Kotou, Lefouga, Foa_, etc., are seen in
Captain Cook’s chart to be fringed by reefs, in several of them are
connected together. From the various statements in the first volume of
Cook’s “Third Voyage,” and especially in the fourth and sixth chapters,
it appears that these reefs are of coral-formation, and certainly do
not belong to the barrier class; coloured red.—_Toufoa and Kao_,
forming the western part of the group, according to Forster have no
reefs; the former is an active volcano.—_Vavao._ There is a chart of
this singularly formed island, by Espinoza: according to Mr. Williams
it consists of coral-rock: the Chevalier Dillon informs me that it is
not fringed; not coloured. Nor are the islands of _Latte_ and
_Amargura_, for I have not seen plans on a large scale of them, and do
not know whether they are fringed.
_Niouha_, 16° S., 174° W., or _Keppel_ Island of Wallis, or _Cocos_
Island. From a view and chart of this island given in Wallis’s “Voyage”
(4to ed.) it is evidently encircled by a reef; coloured blue: it is
however remarkable that _Boscawen_ Island, immediately adjoining, has
no reef of any kind; uncoloured.
_Wallis_ Island, 13° S., 176° W., a chart and view of this island in
Wallis’s “Voyage” (4to ed.) shows that it is encircled. A view of it in
the _Naut. Mag._, July 1833, p. 376, shows the same fact; blue.
_Alloufatou_, or _Horn_ Island, _Onouafu_, or _ Proby_ Island, and
_Hunter_ Islands, lie between the Navigator and Fidji groups. I can
find no distinct accounts of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account