the former is found, but not in proportionate numbers, in the hollows on
the reef; but the Astraea I did not see living. Hence we may infer, that
these are the kinds of coral which form the rugged sloping surface
(represented in the woodcut by an uneven line), round and beneath the
external margin. Between twelve and twenty fathoms the arming came up an
equal number of times smoothed with sand, and indented with coral: an
anchor and lead were lost at the respective depths of thirteen and sixteen
fathoms. Out of twenty-five soundings taken at a greater depth than twenty
fathoms, every one showed that the bottom was covered with sand; whereas,
at a less depth than twelve fathoms, every sounding showed that it was
exceedingly rugged, and free from all extraneous particles. Two soundings
were obtained at the depth of 360 fathoms, and several between two hundred
and three hundred fathoms. The sand brought up from these depths consisted
of finely triturated fragments of stony zoophytes, but not, as far as I
could distinguish, of a particle of any lamelliform genus: fragments of
shells were rare.

At a distance of 2,200 yards from the breakers, Captain Fitzroy found no
bottom with a line of 7,200 feet in length; hence the submarine slope of
this coral formation is steeper than that of any volcanic cone. Off the
mouth of the lagoon, and likewise off the northern point of the atoll,
where the currents act violently, the inclination, owing to the
accumulation of sediment, is less. As the arming of the lead from all the
greater depths showed a smooth sandy bottom, I at first concluded that the
whole consisted of a vast conical pile of calcareous sand, but the sudden
increase of depth at some points, and the circumstance of the line having
been cut, as if rubbed, when between five hundred and six hundred fathoms
were out, indicate the probable existence of submarine cliffs.

On the margin of the reef, close within the line where the upper surface of