There is a very notable
example of a simple coral reef about the island of Mauritius, which I
dare say you all know, lies in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is a
very considerable and beautiful island, and is surrounded on all sides
by a mass of coral, which has been formed in the way I have described;
so that if you could get upon the top of one of the peaks of the island,
and look down upon the Indian Ocean, you would see that the beach round
the Island was continued outward by a kind of shallow terrace, which is
covered by the sea, and where the sea is quite shallow; and at a
distance varying from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a half from
the proper beach, you would see a line of foam or surf which looks most
beautiful in contrast with the bright green water in the inside, and
the deep blue of the sea beyond. That line of surf indicates the point
at which the waters of the ocean are breaking upon the coral reef which
surrounds the island. You see it sweep round the island upon all
sides, except where a river may chance to come down, and that always
makes a gap in the shore.
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