Coral Reefs Part 3

D'Urville.

2. GAMBIER ISLAND, from Beechey.

3. MAURUA, from the "Atlas of the Voyage of the 'Coquille'," by Duperrey.

The horizontal line is the level of the sea, from which on the right hand a plummet descends, representing a depth of 200 fathoms, or 1,200 feet. The vertical shading shows the section of the land, and the horizontal shading that of the encircling barrier-reef: from the smallness of the scale, the lagoon-channel could not be represented.

AA.--Outer edge of the coral-reefs, where the sea breaks.

BB.--The sh.o.r.e of the encircled islands.)

There is one important point in the structure of barrier-reefs which must here be considered. The accompanying diagrams represent north and south vertical sections, taken through the highest points of Vanikoro, Gambier, and Maurua Islands, and through their encircling reefs. The scale both in the horizontal and vertical direction is the same, namely, a quarter of an inch to a nautical mile. The height and width of these islands is known; and I have attempted to represent the form of the land from the shading of the hills in the large published charts. It has long been remarked, even from the time of Dampier, that considerable degree of relation subsists between the inclination of that part of the land which is beneath water and that above it; hence the dotted line in the three sections, probably, does not widely differ in inclination from the actual submarine prolongation of the land. If we now look at the outer edge of the reef (AA), and bear in mind that the plummet on the right hand represents a depth of 1,200 feet, we must conclude that the vertical thickness of these barrier coral-reefs is very great.

I must observe that if the sections had been taken in any other direction across these islands, or across other encircled islands (In the fifth chapter an east and west section across the Island of Bolabola and its barrier-reefs is given, for the sake of ill.u.s.trating another point. The unbroken line in it (woodcut No. 5) is the section referred to. The scale is .57 of an inch to a mile; it is taken from the "Atlas of the Voyage of the 'Coquille'," by Duperrey. The depth of the lagoon-channel is exaggerated.), the result would have been the same. In the succeeding chapter it will be shown that reef-building polypifers cannot flourish at great depths,--for instance, it is highly improbable that they could exist at a quarter of the depth represented by the plummet on the right hand of the woodcut. Here there is a great APPARENT difficulty--how were the basal parts of these barrier-reef formed? It will, perhaps, occur to some, that the actual reefs formed of coral are not of great thickness, but that before their first growth, the coasts of these encircled islands were deeply eaten into, and a broad but shallow submarine ledge thus left, on the edge of which the coral grew; but if this had been the case, the sh.o.r.e would have been invariably bounded by lofty cliffs, and not have sloped down to the lagoon-channel, as it does in many instances. On this view (The Rev. D. Tyerman and Mr. Bennett ("Journal of Voyage and Travels,"

volume i., page 215) have briefly suggested this explanation of the origin of the encircling reefs of the Society Islands.), moreover, the cause of the reef springing up at such a great distance from the land, leaving a deep and broad moat within, remains altogether unexplained. A supposition of the same nature, and appearing at first more probable is, that the reefs sprung up from banks of sediment, which had acc.u.mulated round the sh.o.r.e previously to the growth of the coral; but the extension of a bank to the same distance round an unbroken coast, and in front of those deep arms of the sea (as in Raiatea, see Plate II., Figure 3) which penetrate nearly to the heart of some encircled islands, is exceedingly improbable. And why, again, should the reef spring up, in some cases steep on both sides like a wall, at a distance of two, three or more miles from the sh.o.r.e, leaving a channel often between two hundred and three hundred feet deep, and rising from a depth which we have reason to believe is destructive to the growth of coral? An admission of this nature cannot possibly be made. The existence, also, of the deep channel, utterly precludes the idea of the reef having grown outwards, on a foundation slowly formed on its outside, by the acc.u.mulation of sediment and coral detritus. Nor, again, can it be a.s.serted, that the reef-building corals will not grow, excepting at a great distance from the land; for, as we shall soon see, there is a whole cla.s.s of reefs, which take their name from growing closely attached (especially where the sea is deep) to the beach. At New Caledonia (see Plate II., Figure 5) the reefs which run in front of the west coast are prolonged in the same line 150 miles beyond the northern extremity of the island, and this shows that some explanation, quite different from any of those just suggested, is required. The continuation of the reefs on each side of the submarine prolongation of New Caledonia, is an exceedingly interesting fact, if this part formerly existed as the northern extremity of the island, and before the attachment of the coral had been worn down by the action of the sea, or if it originally existed at its present height, with or without beds of sediment on each flank, how can we possibly account for the reefs, not growing on the crest of this submarine portion, but fronting its sides, in the same line with the reefs which front the sh.o.r.es of the lofty island? We shall hereafter see, that there is one, and I believe only one, solution of this difficulty.

One other supposition to account for the position of encircling barrier-reefs remains, but it is almost too preposterous to be mentioned; namely, that they rest on enormous submarine craters, surrounding the included islands. When the size, height, and form of the islands in the Society group are considered, together with the fact that all are thus encircled, such a notion will be rejected by almost every one. New Caledonia, moreover, besides its size, is composed of primitive formations, as are some of the Comoro Islands (I have been informed that this is the case by Dr. Allan of Forres, who has visited this group.); and Aitutaki consists of calcareous rock. We must, therefore, reject these several explanations, and conclude that the vertical thickness of barrier-reefs, from their outer edges to the foundation on which they rest (from AA in the section to the dotted lines) is really great; but in this, there is no difficulty, for it is not necessary to suppose that the coral has sprung up from an immense depth, as will be evident when the theory of the upward growth of coral-reefs, during the slow subsidence of their foundation, is discussed.

CHAPTER III.--FRINGING OR Sh.o.r.e-REEFS.

Reefs of Mauritius.--Shallow channel within the reef.--Its slow filling up.--Currents of water formed within it.--Upraised reefs.--Narrow fringing-reefs in deep seas.--Reefs on the coast of East Africa and of Brazil.--Fringing-reefs in very shallow seas, round banks of sediment and on worn-down islands.--Fringing-reefs affected by currents of the sea.-- Coral coating the bottom of the sea, but not forming reefs.

Fringing-reefs, or, as they have been called by some voyagers, sh.o.r.e-reefs, whether skirting an island or part of a continent, might at first be thought to differ little, except in generally being of less breadth, from barrier-reefs. As far as the superficies of the actual reef is concerned this is the case; but the absence of an interior deep-water channel, and the close relation in their horizontal extension with the probable slope beneath the sea of the adjoining land, present essential points of difference.

The reefs which fringe the island of Mauritius offer a good example of this cla.s.s. They extend round its whole circ.u.mference, with the exception of two or three parts (This fact is stated on the authority of the Officier du Roi, in his extremely interesting "Voyage a l'Isle de France," undertaken in 1768. According to Captain Carmichael (Hooker's "Bot. Misc." volume ii., page 316) on one part of the coast there is a s.p.a.ce for sixteen miles without a reef.), where the coast is almost precipitous, and where, if as is probable the bottom of the sea has a similar inclination, the coral would have no foundation on which to become attached. A similar fact may sometimes be observed even in reefs of the barrier cla.s.s, which follow much less closely the outline of the adjoining land; as, for instance, on the south-east and precipitous side of Tahiti, where the encircling reef is interrupted. On the western side of the Mauritius, which was the only part I visited, the reef generally lies at the distance of about half a mile from the sh.o.r.e; but in some parts it is distant from one to two, and even three miles. But even in this last case, as the coast-land is gently inclined from the foot of the mountains to the sea-beach, and as the soundings outside the reef indicate an equally gentle slope beneath the water, there is no reason for supposing that the basis of the reef, formed by the prolongation of the strata of the island, lies at a greater depth than that at which the polypifers could begin constructing the reef. Some allowance, however, must be made for the outward extension of the corals on a foundation of sand and detritus, formed from their own wear, which would give to the reef a somewhat greater vertical thickness, than would otherwise be possible.

The outer edge of the reef on the western or leeward side of the island is tolerably well defined, and is a little higher than any other part. It chiefly consists of large strongly branched corals, of the genus Madrepora, which also form a sloping bed some way out to sea: the kinds of coral growing in this part will be described in the ensuing chapter. Between the outer margin and the beach, there is a flat s.p.a.ce with a sandy bottom and a few tufts of living coral; in some parts it is so shallow, that people, by avoiding the deeper holes and gullies, can wade across it at low water; in other parts it is deeper, seldom however exceeding ten or twelve feet, so that it offers a safe coasting channel for boats. On the eastern and windward side of the island, which is exposed to a heavy surf, the reef was described to me as having a hard smooth surface, very slightly inclined inwards, just covered at low-water, and traversed by gullies; it appears to be quite similar in structure to the reefs of the barrier and atoll cla.s.ses.

The reef of Mauritius, in front of every river and streamlet, is breached by a straight pa.s.sage: at Grand Port, however, there is a channel like that within a barrier-reef; it extends parallel to the sh.o.r.e for four miles, and has an average depth of ten or twelve fathoms; its presence may probably be accounted for by two rivers which enter at each end of the channel, and bend towards each other. The fact of reefs of the fringing cla.s.s being always breached in front of streams, even of those which are dry during the greater part of the year, will be explained, when the conditions unfavourable to the growth of coral are considered. Low coral-islets, like those on barrier-reefs and atolls, are seldom formed on reefs of this cla.s.s, owing apparently in some cases to their narrowness, and in others to the gentle slope of the reef outside not yielding many fragments to the breakers. On the windward side, however, of the Mauritius, two or three small islets have been formed.

It appears, as will be shown in the ensuing chapter, that the action of the surf is favourable to the vigorous growth of the stronger corals, and that sand or sediment, if agitated by the waves, is injurious to them. Hence it is probable that a reef on a shelving sh.o.r.e, like that of Mauritius, would at first grow up, not attached to the actual beach, but at some little distance from it; and the corals on the outer margin would be the most vigorous. A shallow channel would thus be formed within the reef, and as the breakers are prevented acting on the sh.o.r.es of the island, and as they do not ordinarily tear up many fragments from the outside, and as every streamlet has its bed prolonged in a straight line through the reef, this channel could be filled up only very slowly with sediment. But a beach of sand and of fragments of the smaller kinds of coral seems, in the case of Mauritius, to be slowly encroaching on the shallow channel. On many shelving and sandy coasts, the breakers tend to form a bar of sand a little way from the beach, with a slight increase of depth within it; for instance, Captain Grey (Captain Grey's "Journal of Two Expeditions," volume i. page 369.) states that the west coast of Australia, in lat.i.tude 24 deg., is fronted by a sand bar about two hundred yards in width, on which there is only two feet of water; but within it the depth increases to two fathoms. Similar bars, more or less perfect, occur on other coasts. In these cases I suspect that the shallow channel (which no doubt during storms is occasionally obliterated) is scooped out by the flowing away of the water thrown beyond the line, on which the waves break with the greatest force. At Pernambuco a bar of hard sandstone (I have described this singular structure in the "London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag." October 1841.), which has the same external form and height as a coral-reef, extends nearly parallel to the coast; within this bar currents, apparently caused by the water thrown over it during the greater part of each tide, run strongly, and are wearing away its inner wall. From these facts it can hardly be doubted, that within most fringing-reefs, especially within those lying some distance from the land, a return stream must carry away the water thrown over the outer edge; and the current thus produced, would tend to prevent the channel being filled up with sediment, and might even deepen it under certain circ.u.mstances. To this latter belief I am led, by finding that channels are almost universally present within the fringing-reefs of those islands which have undergone recent elevatory movements; and this could hardly have been the case, if the conversion of the very shallow channel into land had not been counteracted to a certain extent.

A fringing-reef, if elevated in a perfect condition above the level of the sea, ought to present the singular appearance of a broad dry moat within a low mound. The author ("Voyage a l'Isle de France, par un Officier du Roi," part i., pages 192, 200.) of an interesting pedestrian tour round the Mauritius, seems to have met with a structure of this kind: he says "J'observai que la, ou la mer etale, independamment des rescifs du large, il y a terre UNE ESPECE D'EFFONCEMENT ou chemin couvert naturel. On y pourrait mettre du canon," etc. In another place he adds, "Avant de pa.s.ser le Cap, on remarque un gros banc de corail eleve de plus de quinze pieds: c'est une espece de rescif, que la mer abandonne, il regne au pied une longue flaque d'eau, dont on pourrait faire un ba.s.sin pour de pet.i.ts vaisseaux." But the margin of the reef, although the highest and most perfect part, from being most exposed to the surf, would generally during a slow rise of the land be either partially or entirely worn down to that level, at which corals could renew their growth on its upper edge. On some parts of the coast-land of Mauritius there are little hillocks of coral-rock, which are either the last remnants of a continuous reef, or of low islets formed on it. I observed that two such hillocks between Tamarin Bay and the Great Black River; they were nearly twenty feet high, about two hundred yards from the present beach, and about thirty feet above its level. They rose abruptly from a smooth surface, strewed with worn fragments of coral. They consisted in their lower part of hard calcareous sandstone, and in their upper of great blocks of several species of Astraea and Madrepora, loosely aggregated; they were divided into irregular beds, dipping seaward, in one hillock at an angle of 8 deg., and in the other at 18 deg. I suspect that the superficial parts of the reefs, which have been upraised together with the islands they fringe, have generally been much more modified by the wearing action of the sea, than those of Mauritius.

Many islands are fringed by reefs quite similar to those of Mauritius (I may give Cuba, as another instance; Mr. Taylor ("Loudon's Mag. of Nat.

Hist." volume ix., page 449) has described a reef several miles in length between Gibara and Vjaro, which extends parallel to the sh.o.r.e at the distance of between half and the third part of a mile, and encloses a s.p.a.ce of shallow water, with a sandy bottom and tufts of coral. Outside the edge of the reef, which is formed of great branching corals, the depth is six and seven fathoms. This coast has been upheaved at no very distant geological period."); but on coasts where the sea deepens very suddenly the reefs are much narrower, and their limited extension seems evidently to depend on the high inclination of the submarine slope; a relation, which, as we have seen, does not exist in reefs of the barrier cla.s.s. The fringing-reefs on steep coasts are frequently not more than from fifty to one hundred yards in width; they have a nearly smooth, hard surface, scarcely uncovered at low water, and without any interior shoal channel, like that within those fringing-reefs, which lie at a greater distance from the land. The fragments torn up during gales from the outer margin are thrown over the reef on the sh.o.r.es of the island. I may give as instances, Wateeo, where the reef is described by Cook as being a hundred yards wide; and Mauti and Elizabeth Islands (Mauti is described by Lord Byron in the voyage of H.M.S. "Blonde", and Elizabeth Island by Captain Beechey.), where it is only fifty yards in width: the sea round these islands is very deep.

Fringing-reefs, like barrier-reefs, both surround islands, and front the sh.o.r.es of continents. In the charts of the eastern coast of Africa, by Captain Owen, many extensive fringing-reefs are laid down; thus, for a s.p.a.ce of nearly forty miles, from lat.i.tude 1 deg 15' to 1 deg 45' S., a reef fringes the sh.o.r.e at an average distance of rather more than one mile, and therefore at a greater distance than is usual in reefs of this cla.s.s; but as the coast-land is not lofty, and as the bottom shoals very gradually (the depth being only from eight to fourteen fathoms at a mile and a half outside the reef), its extension thus far from the land offers no difficulty. The external margin of this reef is described, as formed of projecting points, within which there is a s.p.a.ce, from six to twelve feet deep, with patches of living coral on it. At Mukdeesha (lat.i.tude 2 deg 1'

N.) "the port is formed," it is said (Owen's "Africa," volume i., page 357, from which work the foregoing facts are likewise taken.) "by a long reef extending eastward, four or five miles, within which there is a narrow channel, with ten to twelve feet of water at low spring-tides;" it lies at the distance of a quarter of a mile from the sh.o.r.e. Again, in the plan of Mombas (lat.i.tude 4 deg S.), a reef extends for thirty-six miles, at the distance of from half a mile to one mile and a quarter from the sh.o.r.e; within it, there is a channel navigable "for canoes and small craft,"

between six and fifteen feet deep: outside the reef the depth is about thirty fathoms at the distance of nearly half a mile. Part of this reef is very symmetrical, and has a uniform breadth of two hundred yards.

The coast of Brazil is in many parts fringed by reefs. Of these, some are not of coral formation; for instance, those near Bahia and in front of Pernambuco; but a few miles south of this latter city, the reef follows (See Baron Roussin's "Pilote du Bresil," and accompanying hydrographical memoir.) so closely every turn of the sh.o.r.e, that I can hardly doubt it is of coral; it runs at the distance of three-quarters of a mile from the land, and within it the depth is from ten to fifteen feet. I was a.s.sured by an intelligent pilot that at Ports Frances and Maceio, the outer part of the reef consists of living coral, and the inner of a white stone, full of large irregular cavities, communicating with the sea. The bottom of the sea off the coast of Brazil shoals gradually to between thirty and forty fathoms, at the distance of between nine and ten leagues from the land.

From the description now given, we must conclude that the dimensions and structure of fringing-reefs depend entirely on the greater or less inclination of the submarine slope, conjoined with the fact that reef-building polypifers can exist only at limited depths. It follows from this, that where the sea is very shallow, as in the Persian Gulf and in parts of the East Indian Archipelago, the reefs lose their fringing character, and appear as separate and irregularly scattered patches, often of considerable area. From the more vigorous growth of the coral on the outside, and from the conditions being less favourable in several respects within, such reefs are generally higher and more perfect in their marginal than in their central parts; hence these reefs sometimes a.s.sume (and this circ.u.mstance ought not to be overlooked) the appearance of atolls; but they differ from atolls in their central expanse being much less deep, in their form being less defined, and in being based on a shallow foundation. But when in a deep sea reefs fringe banks of sediment, which have acc.u.mulated beneath the surface, round either islands or submerged rocks, they are distinguished with difficulty on the one hand from encircling barrier-reefs, and on the other from atolls. In the West Indies there are reefs, which I should probably have arranged under both these cla.s.ses, had not the existence of large and level banks, lying a little beneath the surface, ready to serve as the basis for the attachment of coral, been occasionally brought into view by the entire or partial absence of reefs on them, and had not the formation of such banks, through the acc.u.mulation of sediment now in progress, been sufficiently evident. Fringing-reefs sometimes coat, and thus protect the foundations of islands, which have been worn down by the surf to the level of the sea. According to Ehrenberg, this has been extensively the case with the islands in the Red Sea, which formerly ranged parallel to the sh.o.r.es of the mainland, with deep water within them: hence the reefs now coating their bases are situated relatively to the land like barrier-reefs, although not belonging to that cla.s.s; but there are, as I believe, in the Red Sea some true barrier-reefs. The reefs of this sea and of the West Indies will be described in the Appendix. In some cases, fringing-reefs appear to be considerably modified in outline by the course of the prevailing currents. Dr. J. Allan informs me that on the east coast of Madagascar almost every headland and low point of sand has a coral-reef extending from it in a S.W. and N.E. line, parallel to the currents on that sh.o.r.e. I should think the influence of the currents chiefly consisted in causing an extension, in a certain direction, of a proper foundation for the attachment of the coral. Round many intertropical islands, for instance the Abrolhos on the coast of Brazil surveyed by Captain Fitzroy, and, as I am informed by Mr. c.u.ming, round the Philippines, the bottom of the sea is entirely coated by irregular ma.s.ses of coral, which although often of large size, do not reach the surface and form proper reefs. This must be owing, either to insufficient growth, or to the absence of those kinds of corals which can withstand the breaking of the waves.

The three cla.s.ses, atoll-formed, barrier, and fringing-reefs, together with the modifications just described of the latter, include all the most remarkable coral formations anywhere existing. At the commencement of the last chapter in the volume, where I detail the principles on which the map (Plate III.) is coloured, the exceptional cases will be enumerated.

CHAPTER IV.--ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND GROWTH OF CORAL-REEFS.

In this chapter I will give all the facts which I have collected, relating to the distribution of coral-reefs,--to the conditions favourable to their increase,--to the rate of their growth,--and to the depth at which they are formed.

These subjects have an important bearing on the theory of the origin of the different cla.s.ses of coral-reefs.

SECTION 4.I.--ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS, AND ON THE CONDITIONS FAVOURABLE TO THEIR INCREASE.

With regard to the limits of lat.i.tude, over which coral-reefs extend, I have nothing new to add. The Bermuda Islands, in 32 deg 15' N., is the point furthest removed from the equator, in which they appear to exist; and it has been suggested that their extension so far northward in this instance is owing to the warmth of the Gulf Stream. In the Pacific, the Loo Choo Islands, in lat.i.tude 27 deg N., have reefs on their sh.o.r.es, and there is an atoll in 28 deg 30', situated N.W. of the Sandwich Archipelago.

In the Red Sea there are coral-reefs in lat.i.tude 30 deg. In the southern hemisphere coral-reefs do not extend so far from the equatorial sea. In the Southern Pacific there are only a few reefs beyond the line of the tropics, but Houtmans Abrolhos, on the western sh.o.r.es of Australia in lat.i.tude 29 deg S., are of coral formation.

The proximity of volcanic land, owing to the lime generally evolved from it, has been thought to be favourable to the increase of coral-reefs.

There is, however, not much foundation for this view; for nowhere are coral-reefs more extensive than on the sh.o.r.es of New Caledonia, and of north-eastern Australia, which consist of primary formations; and in the largest groups of atolls, namely the Maldiva, Chagos, Marshall, Gilbert, and Low Archipelagoes, there is no volcanic or other kind of rock, excepting that formed of coral.

The entire absence of coral-reefs in certain large areas within the tropical seas, is a remarkable fact. Thus no coral-reefs were observed, during the surveying voyages of the "Beagle" and her tender on the west coast of South America south of the equator, or round the Galapagos Islands. It appears, also, that there are none (I have been informed that this is the case, by Lieutenant Ryder, R.N., and others who have had ample opportunities for observation.) north of the equator; Mr. Lloyd, who surveyed the Isthmus of Panama, remarked to me, that although he had seen corals living in the Bay of Panama, yet he had never observed any reefs formed by them. I at first attributed this absence of reefs on the coasts of Peru and of the Galapagos Islands (The mean temperature of the surface sea from observations made by the direction of Captain Fitzroy on the sh.o.r.es of the Galapagos Islands, between the 16th of September and the 20th of October, 1835, was 68 deg Fahr. The lowest temperature observed was 58.5 deg at the south-west end of Albemarle Island; and on the west coast of this island, it was several times 62 deg and 63 deg. The mean temperature of the sea in the Low Archipelago of atolls, and near Tahiti, from similar observations made on board the "Beagle", was (although further from the equator) 77.5 deg, the lowest any day being 76.5 deg. Therefore we have here a difference of 9.5 deg in mean temperature, and 18 deg in extremes; a difference doubtless quite sufficient to affect the distribution of organic beings in the two areas.), to the coldness of the currents from the south, but the Gulf of Panama is one of the hottest pelagic districts in the world. (Humboldt's "Personal Narrative," volume vii., page 434.) In the central parts of the Pacific there are islands entirely free from reefs; in some few of these cases I have thought that this was owing to recent volcanic action; but the existence of reefs round the greater part of Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands, shows that recent volcanic action does not necessarily prevent their growth.

In the last chapter I stated that the bottom of the sea round some islands is thickly coated with living corals, which nevertheless do not form reefs, either from insufficient growth, or from the species not being adapted to contend with the breaking waves.

I have been a.s.sured by several people, that there are no coral-reefs on the west coast of Africa (It might be concluded, from a paper by Captain Owen ("Geographical Journal", volume ii., page 89), that the reefs off Cape St.

Anne and the Sherboro' Islands were of coral, although the author states that they are not purely coralline. But I have been a.s.sured by Lieutenant Holland, R.N., that these reefs are not of coral, or at least that they do not at all resemble those in the West Indies.), or round the islands in the Gulf of Guinea. This perhaps may be attributed, in part, to the sediment brought down by the many rivers debouching on that coast, and to the extensive mud-banks, which line great part of it. But the islands of St.

Helena, Ascension, the Cape Verdes, St. Paul's, and Fernando Noronha, are, also, entirely without reefs, although they lie far out at sea, are composed of the same ancient volcanic rocks, and have the same general form, with those islands in the Pacific, the sh.o.r.es of which are surrounded by gigantic walls of coral-rock. With the exception of Bermuda, there is not a single coral-reef in the central expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. It will, perhaps, be suggested that the quant.i.ty of carbonate of lime in different parts of the sea, may regulate the presence of reefs. But this cannot be the case, for at Ascension, the waves charged to excess precipitate a thick layer of calcareous matter on the tidal rocks; and at St. Jago, in the Cape Verdes, carbonate of lime not only is abundant on the sh.o.r.es, but it forms the chief part of some upraised post-tertiary strata.

The apparently capricious distribution, therefore, of coral-reefs, cannot be explained by any of these obvious causes; but as the study of the terrestrial and better known half of the world must convince every one that no station capable of supporting life is lost,--nay more, that there is a struggle for each station, between the different orders of nature,--we may conclude that in those parts of the intertropical sea, in which there are no coral-reefs, there are other organic bodies supplying the place of the reef-building polypifers. It has been shown in the chapter on Keeling atoll that there are some species of large fish, and the whole tribe of Holothuriae which prey on the tenderer parts of the corals. On the other hand, the polypifers in their turn must prey on some other organic beings; the decrease of which from any cause would cause a proportionate destruction of the living coral. The relations, therefore, which determine the formation of reefs on any sh.o.r.e, by the vigorous growth of the efficient kinds of coral, must be very complex, and with our imperfect knowledge quite inexplicable. From these considerations, we may infer that changes in the condition of the sea, not obvious to our senses, might destroy all the coral-reefs in one area, and cause them to appear in another: thus, the Pacific or Indian Ocean might become as barren of coral-reefs as the Atlantic now is, without our being able to a.s.sign any adequate cause for such a change.

It has been a question with some naturalists, which part of a reef is most favourable to the growth of coral. The great mounds of living Porites and of Millepora round Keeling atoll occur exclusively on the extreme verge of the reef, which is washed by a constant succession of breakers; and living coral nowhere else forms solid ma.s.ses. At the Marshall islands the larger kinds of coral (chiefly species of Astraea, a genus closely allied to Porites) "which form rocks measuring several fathoms in thickness," prefer, according to Chamisso (Kotzebue's "First Voyage" (English Translation), volume iii., pages 142, 143, 331.), the most violent surf. I have stated that the outer margin of the Maldiva atolls consists of living corals (some of which, if not all, are of the same species with those at Keeling atoll), and here the surf is so tremendous, that even large s.h.i.+ps have been thrown, by a single heave of the sea, high and dry on the reef, all on board thus escaping with their lives.

Ehrenberg (Ehrenberg, "Uber die Natur und Bildung der Corallen Banke im rothen Meere," page 49.) remarks, that in the Red Sea the strongest corals live on the outer reefs, and appear to love the surf; he adds, that the more branched kinds abound a little way within, but that even these in still more protected places, become smaller. Many other facts having a similar tendency might be adduced. (In the West Indies, as I am informed by Captain Bird Allen, R.N., it is the common belief of those, who are best acquainted with the reefs, that the coral flourishes most, where freely exposed to the swell of the open sea.) It has, however, been doubted by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, whether any kind of coral can even withstand, much less flourish in, the breakers of an open sea ("Annales des Sciences Naturelles," tome vi., pages 276, 278.--"La ou les ondes sont agitees, les Lytophytes ne peuvent travailler, parce qu'elles detruiraient leurs fragiles edifices," etc.): they affirm that the saxigenous lithophytes flourish only where the water is tranquil, and the heat intense. This statement has pa.s.sed from one geological work to another; nevertheless, the protection of the whole reef undoubtedly is due to those kinds of coral, which cannot exist in the situations thought by these naturalists to be most favourable to them. For should the outer and living margin perish, of any one of the many low coral-islands, round which a line of great breakers is incessantly foaming, the whole, it is scarcely possible to doubt, would be washed away and destroyed, in less than half a century. But the vital energies of the corals conquer the mechanical power of the waves; and the large fragments of reef torn up by every storm, are replaced by the slow but steady growth of the innumerable polypifers, which form the living zone on its outer edge.

From these facts, it is certain, that the strongest and most ma.s.sive corals flourish, where most exposed. The less perfect state of the reef of most atolls on the leeward and less exposed side, compared with its state to windward; and the a.n.a.logous case of the greater number of breaches on the near sides of those atolls in the Maldiva Archipelago, which afford some protection to each other, are obviously explained by this circ.u.mstance. If the question had been, under what conditions the greater number of species of coral, not regarding their bulk and strength, were developed, I should answer,--probably in the situations described by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, where the water is tranquil and the heat intense. The total number of species of coral in the circ.u.mtropical seas must be very great: in the Red Sea alone, 120 kinds, according to Ehrenberg (Ehrenberg, "Uber die Natur,"

etc., etc., page 46.), have been observed.

The same author has observed that the recoil of the sea from a steep sh.o.r.e is injurious to the growth of coral, although waves breaking over a bank are not so. Ehrenberg also states, that where there is much sediment, placed so as to be liable to be moved by the waves there is little or no coral; and a collection of living specimens placed by him on a sandy sh.o.r.e died in the course of a few days. (Ibid., page 49.) An experiment, however, will presently be related in which some large ma.s.ses of living coral increased rapidly in size, after having been secured by stakes on a sandbank. That loose sediment should be injurious to the living polypifers, appears, at first sight, probable; and accordingly, in sounding off Keeling atoll, and (as will hereafter be shown) off Mauritius, the arming of the lead invariably came up clean, where the coral was growing vigorously. This same circ.u.mstance has probably given rise to a strange belief, which, according to Captain Owen (Captain Owen on the Geography of the Maldiva Islands, "Geographical Journal", volume ii., page 88.), is general amongst the inhabitants of the Maldiva atolls, namely that corals have roots, and therefore that if merely broken down to the surface, they grow up again; but, if rooted out, they are permanently destroyed. By this means the inhabitants keep their harbours clear; and thus the French Governor of St. Mary's in Madagascar, "cleared out and made a beautiful little port at that place." For it is probable that sand would acc.u.mulate in the hollows formed by tearing out the corals, but not on the broken and projecting stumps, and therefore, in the former case, the fresh growth of the coral might be thus prevented.

In the last chapter I remarked that fringing-reefs are almost universally breached, where streams enter the sea. (Lieutenant Wellstead and others have remarked that this is the case in the Red Sea; Dr. Ruppell ("Reise in Abyss." Band. i., page 142) says that there are pear-shaped harbours in the upraised coral-coast, into which periodical streams enter. From this circ.u.mstance, I presume, we must infer that before the upheaval of the strata now forming the coast-land, fresh water and sediment entered the sea at these points; and the coral being thus prevented growing, the pear-shaped harbours were produced.) Most authors have attributed this fact to the injurious effects of the fresh water, even where it enters the sea only in small quant.i.ty, and during a part of the year. No doubt brackish water would prevent or r.e.t.a.r.d the growth of coral; but I believe that the mud and sand which is deposited, even by rivulets when flooded, is a much more efficient check. The reef on each side of the channel leading into Port Louis at Mauritius, ends abruptly in a wall, at the foot of which I sounded and found a bed of thick mud. This steepness of the sides appears to be a general character in such breaches. Cook (Cook's "First Voyage," volume ii., page 271 (Hawkesworth's edition).), speaking of one at Raiatea, says, "like all the rest, it is very steep on both sides." Now, if it were the fresh water mingling with the salt which prevented the growth of coral, the reef certainly would not terminate abruptly, but as the polypifers nearest the impure stream would grow less vigorously than those farther off, so would the reef gradually thin away. On the other hand, the sediment brought down from the land would only prevent the growth of the coral in the line of its deposition, but would not check it on the side, so that the reefs might increase till they overhung the bed of the channel. The breaches are much fewer in number, and front only the larger valleys in reefs of the encircling barrier cla.s.s. They probably are kept open in the same manner as those into the lagoon of an atoll, namely, by the force of the currents and the drifting outwards of fine sediment. Their position in front of valleys, although often separated from the land by deep water lagoon-channels, which it might be thought would entirely remove the injurious effects both of the fresh water and the sediment, will receive a simple explanation when we discuss the origin of barrier-reefs.

In the vegetable kingdom every different station has its peculiar group of plants, and similar relations appear to prevail with corals. We have already described the great difference between the corals within the lagoon of an atoll and those on its outer margin. The corals, also, on the margin of Keeling Island occurred in zones; thus the Porites and Millepora complanata grow to a large size only where they are washed by a heavy sea, and are killed by a short exposure to the air; whereas, three species of Nullipora also live amidst the breakers, but are able to survive uncovered for a part of each tide; at greater depths, a strong Madrepora and Millepora alcicornis are the commonest kinds, the former appearing to be confined to this part, beneath the zone of ma.s.sive corals, minute encrusting corallines and other organic bodies live. If we compare the external margin of the reef at Keeling atoll with that on the leeward side of Mauritius, which are very differently circ.u.mstanced, we shall find a corresponding difference in the appearance of the corals. At the latter place, the genus Madrepora is preponderant over every other kind, and beneath the zone of ma.s.sive corals there are large beds of Seriatopora.

There is also a marked difference, according to Captain Moresby (Captain Moresby on the Northern Maldiva atolls, "Geographical Journal", volume v., page 401.), between the great branching corals of the Red Sea, and those on the reefs of the Maldiva atolls.

These facts, which in themselves are deserving of notice, bear, perhaps, not very remotely, on a remarkable circ.u.mstance which has been pointed out to me by Captain Moresby, namely, that with very few exceptions, none of the coral-knolls within the lagoons of Peros Banhos, Diego Garcia, and the Great Chagos Bank (all situated in the Chagos group), rise to the surface of the water; whereas all those, with equally few exceptions, within Solomon and Egmont atolls in the same group, and likewise within the large southern Maldiva atolls, reach the surface. I make these statements, after having examined the charts of each atoll. In the lagoon of Peros Banhos, which is nearly twenty miles across, there is only one single reef which rises to the surface; in Diego Garcia there are seven, but several of these lie close to the margin of the lagoon, and need scarcely have been reckoned; in the Great Chagos Bank there is not one. On the other hand, in the lagoons of some of the great southern Maldiva atolls, although thickly studded with reefs, every one without exception rises to the surface; and on an average there are less than two submerged reefs in each atoll; in the northern atolls, however, the submerged lagoon-reefs are not quite so rare.

The submerged reefs in the Chagos atolls generally have from one to seven fathoms water on them, but some have from seven to ten. Most of them are small with very steep sides (Some of these statements were not communicated to me verbally by Captain Moresby, but are taken from the MS. account before alluded to, of the Chagos Group.); at Peros Banhos they rise from a depth of about thirty fathoms, and some of them in the Great Chagos Bank from above forty fathoms; they are covered, Captain Moresby informs me, with living and healthy coral, two and three feet high, consisting of several species. Why then have not these lagoon-reefs reached the surface, like the innumerable ones in the atolls above named? If we attempt to a.s.sign any difference in their external conditions, as the cause of this diversity, we are at once baffled. The lagoon of Diego Garcia is not deep, and is almost wholly surrounded by its reef; Peros Banhos is very deep, much larger, with many wide pa.s.sages communicating with the open sea. On the other hand, of those atolls, in which all or nearly all the lagoon-reefs have reached the surface, some are small, others large, some shallow, others deep, some well-enclosed, and others open.

Captain Moresby informs me that he has seen a French chart of Diego Garcia made eighty years before his survey, and apparently very accurate; and from it he infers, that during this interval there has not been the smallest change in the depth on any of the knolls within the lagoon. It is also known that during the last fifty-one years, the eastern channel into the lagoon has neither become narrower, nor decreased in depth; and as there are numerous small knolls of living coral within it, some change might have been antic.i.p.ated. Moreover, as the whole reef round the lagoon of this atoll has been converted into land--an unparalleled case, I believe, in an atoll of such large size,--and as the strip of land is for considerable s.p.a.ces more than half a mile wide--also a very unusual circ.u.mstance,--we have the best possible evidence, that Diego Garcia has remained at its present level for a very long period. With this fact, and with the knowledge that no sensible change has taken place during eighty years in the coral-knolls, and considering that every single reef has reached the surface in other atolls, which do not present the smallest appearance of being older than Diego Garcia and Peros Banhos, and which are placed under the same external conditions with them, one is led to conclude that these submerged reefs, although covered with luxuriant coral, have no tendency to grow upwards, and that they would remain at their present levels for an almost indefinite period.

From the number of these knolls, from their position, size, and form, many of them being only one or two hundred yards across, with a rounded outline, and precipitous sides,--it is indisputable that they have been formed by the growth of coral; and this makes the case much more remarkable. In Peros Banhos and in the Great Chagos Bank, some of these almost columnar ma.s.ses are 200 feet high, and their summits lie only from two to eight fathoms beneath the surface; therefore, a small proportional amount more of growth would cause them to attain the surface, like those numerous knolls, which rise from an equally great depth within the Maldiva atolls. We can hardly suppose that time has been wanting for the upward growth of the coral, whilst in Diego Garcia, the broad annular strip of land, formed by the continued acc.u.mulation of detritus, shows how long this atoll has remained at its present level. We must look to some other cause than the rate of growth; and I suspect it will be found in the reefs being formed of different species of corals, adapted to live at different depths.

The Great Chagos Bank is situated in the centre of the Chagos Group, and the Pitt and Speaker Banks at its two extreme points. These banks resemble atolls, except in their external rim being about eight fathoms submerged, and in being formed of dead rock, with very little living coral on it: a portion nine miles long of the annular reef of Peros Banhos atoll is in the same condition. These facts, as will hereafter be shown, render it very probable that the whole group at some former period subsided seven or eight fathoms; and that the coral perished on the outer margin of those atolls which are now submerged, but that it continued alive, and grew up to the surface on those which are now perfect. If these atolls did subside, and if from the suddenness of the movement or from any other cause, those corals which are better adapted to live at a certain depth than at the surface, once got possession of the knolls, supplanting the former occupants, they would exert little or no tendency to grow upwards. To ill.u.s.trate this, I may observe, that if the corals of the upper zone on the outer edge of Keeling atoll were to perish, it is improbable that those of the lower zone would grow to the surface, and thus become exposed to conditions for which they do not appear to be adapted. The conjecture, that the corals on the submerged knolls within the Chagos atolls have a.n.a.logous habits with those of the lower zone outside Keeling atoll, receives some support from a remark by Captain Moresby, namely, that they have a different appearance from those on the reefs in the Maldiva atolls, which, as we have seen, all rise to the surface: he compares the kind of difference to that of the vegetation under different climates. I have entered at considerable length into this case, although unable to throw much light on it, in order to show that an equal tendency to upward growth ought not to be attributed to all coral-reefs,--to those situated at different depths,--to those forming the ring of an atoll or those on the knolls within a lagoon,--to those in one area and those in another. The inference, therefore, that one reef could not grow up to the surface within a given time, because another, not known to be covered with the same species of corals, and not known to be placed under conditions exactly the same, has not within the same time reached the surface, is unsound.

SECTION 4.II.--ON THE RATE OF GROWTH OF CORAL-REEFS.