Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

630 WEATHER — SOUNDINGS — ISLETS. April Until the 12th every one was actively occupied ; our boats were sent in all directions, though there was so much wind almost each day as materially to impede surveying. Sound- ings on tlie seaward sides of the islands could seldom be ob- tained ; but two moderate days were eagerly taken advantage of to go round the whole group in a boat, and get the few deep soundings which are given in the plan.* The two prin- cipal islands (considering the whole southern group as one island,) lie north and south of each other, fifteen miles apart and as soundings were obtained two miles north of the large island, it may be inferred, I think, that the sea is not so deep between the two as it is in other directions. Only a mile from the southern extreme of the South Keeling, I could get no bottom with more than a thousand fathoms of line. The southern cluster of islets encircle a shallow lagoon, of an oval form, about nine miles long, and six wide. The islets are mere skeletons — little better than coral reefs, on which broken coral and dust have been driven by sea and wind till enough has been accumulated to afford place and nourishment for thousands of cocoa-palms. The outer edges of the islands are considerably higher than the inner, but nowhere exceed about thirty feet above the mean level of the sea. The lagoon is shallow, almost filled with branching corals and coral sand. The small northern island is about a mile in diameter ; a strip of low coral land, almost surrounding a small lagoon, and thickly covered with cocoa-nut trees. These lonely islands (also called Cocos,) were discovered in 1608-9 by Captain William Keeling, who was in the East India Company's service, and held a commission from King James I.f Little or no notice was taken of them from that * This plan of the Keeling Islands will be found in the third (Mr. Darwin's) volume. t Of these facts I was credibly informed, on the authority of the late Captain Horsburgh ; and presumptive evidence of their reality is afforded by the following extract from the work of a well-known historian. Extract from a Summary of Universal Histor)', translated from the French of M. Anquetil, First Edition, page 50. London, 1800 In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a Venetian galley, deeply laden.