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
But in none of these cases, have I met with any detailed
account of their shores, or seen plans on a large scale; and it will be
evident, that a fringing-reef of only thirty or even a few hundred
yards in width, is of so little importance to navigation, that it will
seldom be noticed, excepting by chance; and hence I do not doubt that
several of these islands, now left uncoloured, ought to be red.
SANTA CRUZ GROUP.—_Vanikoro_ (Fig. 1, Plate I) offers a striking
example of a barrier- reef: it was first described by the Chevalier
Dillon, in his voyage, and was surveyed in the _Astrolabe_; coloured
pale blue.—_Tikopia_ and _Fataka_ Islands appear, from the descriptions
of Dillon and D’Urville, to have no reefs; _ Anouda_ is a low, flat
island, surrounded by cliffs (“_Astrolabe_ Hydrog.” and Krusenstern,
“Mem.” vol. ii, p. 432); these are uncoloured. _Toupoua_ (_Otooboa_ of
Dillon) is stated by Captain Tromelin (“Annales Marit.” 1829, p. 289)
to be almost entirely included in a reef, lying at the distance of two
miles from the shore. There is a space of three miles without any reef,
which, although indented with bays, offers no anchorage from the
extreme depth of the water close to the shore: Captain Dillon also
speaks of the reefs fronting this island; coloured blue.—_Santa-Cruz._
I have carefully examined the works of Carteret, D’Entrecasteaux,
Wilson, and Tromelin, and I cannot discover any mention of reefs on its
shores; left uncoloured.—_Tinakoro_ is a constantly active volcano
without reefs.—_Mendana Isles_ (mentioned by Dillon under the name of
_Mammee_, etc.); said by Krusenstern to be low, and intertwined with
reefs. I do not believe they include a lagoon; I have left them
uncoloured.—_Duff’s_ Islands compose a small group
directed in a N.W. and S.E. band; they are described by Wilson (p. 296,
“Miss. Voy.” 4to ed.), as formed by bold-peaked land, with the islands
surrounded by coral-reefs, extending about half a mile from the shore;
at a distance of a mile from the reefs he found only seven fathoms. As
I have no reason for supposing there is deep water within these reefs,
I have coloured them red. _Kennedy_ Island, N.E. of Duff’s. I have been
unable to find any account of it.
NEW CALEDONIA.—The great barrier-reefs on the shores of this island
have already been described (Fig. 5, Plate II). They have been visited
by Labillardiere, Cook, and the northern point by D’Urville; this
latter part so closely resembles an atoll that I have coloured it dark
blue. The _Loyalty_ group is situated eastward of this island; from the
chart and description given in the “Voyage of the _Astrolabe_,” they do
not appear to have any reefs; north of this group, there are some
extensive low reefs (called _Astrolabe_ and _Beaupré_,) which do not
seem to be atoll-formed; these are left uncoloured.
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