You have
in the foreground the waters of the Pacific. You must fancy yourself
in the middle of the great ocean, and you will perceive that there is
an almost circular island, with a low beach, which is formed entirely
of coral sand; growing upon that beach you have vegetation, which takes,
of course, the shape of the circular land; and then, in the interior of
the circle, there is a pool of water, which is not very deep--probably
in this case not more than eight or nine fathoms--and which forms a
strange and beautiful contrast to the deep blue water outside. This
circular island, or atoll, with a lagoon in the middle, is not a
complete circle; upon one side of it there is a break, exactly like the
entrance into a dock; and, as a matter of course, these circular
islets, or atolls, form most efficient break-waters, for if you can only
get inside your ship is in perfect safety, with admirable anchorage in
the interior. If the ship were lying within a mile of that beach, the
water would be one or two thousand feet deep; therefore, a section of
that atoll, with the soundings as deep as this all round, would give
you the notion of a great cone, cut off at the top, and with a shallow
cup in the middle of it.
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