from the reef, forty fathoms depth, which increased a little further so
much that we could find no bottom.") with that of the sections of the
atolls in the Low Archipelago given by Captain Beechey. The nature,
however, of the bottom seems to differ, for this officer (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.)
informs me that all the soundings, even the deepest, were on coral, but he
does not know whether dead or alive. The slope round Christmas atoll (Lat.
1 deg 4' N., 157 deg 45' W.), described by Cook (Cook's "Third Voyage,"
volume ii., chapter 10.), is considerably less, at about half a mile from
the edge of the reef, the average depth was about fourteen fathoms on a
fine sandy bottom, and at a mile, only between twenty and forty fathoms.
It has no doubt been owing to this gentle slope, that the strip of land
surrounding its lagoon, has increased in one part to the extraordinary
width of three miles; it is formed of successive ridges of broken shells
and corals, like those on the beach. I know of no other instance of such
width in the reef of an atoll; but Mr. F.D. Bennett informs me that the
inclination of the bottom round Caroline atoll in the Pacific, is like that
off Christmas Island, very gentle. Off the Maldiva and Chagos atolls, the
inclination is much more abrupt; thus at Heawandoo Pholo, Lieutenant Powell
(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.) found fifty and sixty fathoms
close to the edge of the reef, and at 300 yards distance there was no
bottom with a 300-yard line. Captain Moresby informs me, that at 100
fathoms from the mouth of the lagoon of Diego Garcia, he found no bottom
with 150 fathoms; this is the more remarkable, as the slope is generally
less abrupt in front of channels through a reef, owing to the accumulation
of sediment. At Egmont Island, also, at 150 fathoms from the reef,