And
The Quiet Waters Of This Channel Generally Bathe A Fringe Of
Low Alluvial Soil, Loaded With The Most Beautiful Productions
Of The Tropics, And Lying At The Foot Of The Wild, Abrupt,
Central Mountains.
Encircling barrier-reefs are of all sizes, from three miles
to no less than forty-four miles in diameter; and that which
fronts one side, and encircles both ends, of New Caledonia,
is 400 miles long.
Each reef includes one, two, or several
rocky islands of various heights; and in one instance, even
as many as twelve separate islands. The reef runs at a
greater or less distance from the included land; in the
Society archipelago generally from one to three or four
miles; but at Hogoleu the reef is 20 miles on the southern
side, and 14 miles on the opposite or northern side, from the
included islands. The depth within the lagoon-channel also
varies much; from 10 to 30 fathoms may be taken as an
average; but at Vanikoro there are spaces no less than 56
fathoms or 363 feet deep. Internally the reef either slopes
gently into the lagoon-channel, or ends in a perpendicular
wall sometimes between two and three hundred feet under
water in height: externally the reef rises, like an atoll, with
extreme abruptness out of the profound depths of the ocean.
What can be more singular than these structures? We see
[picture]
an island, which may be compared to a castle situated on the
summit of a lofty submarine mountain, protected by a great
wall of coral-rock, always steep externally and sometimes
internally, with a broad level summit, here and there breached
by a narrow gateway, through which the largest ships can
enter the wide and deep encircling moat.
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Words from 193245 to 193537
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