This Was The First Example I
Had Met With Of A True Barrier Reef Due To Subsidence, As Has
Been So Clearly Shown By Mr. Darwin.
In a sheltered archipelago
they will seldom be distinguishable, from the absence of those
huge rolling waves and breakers which in the wide ocean throw up
a barrier of broken coral far above the usual high-water mark,
while here they rarely rise to the surface.
On reaching the end of the southern island, called Uta, we were
kept waiting two days for a wind that would enable us to pass
over to the next island, Teor, and I began to despair of ever
reaching Ke, and determined on returning. We left with a south
wind, which suddenly changed to north-east, and induced me to
turn again southward in the hopes that this was the commencement
of a few days' favourable weather. We sailed on very well in the
direction of Teor for about an hour, after which the wind shifted
to WSW., and we were driven much out of our course, and at
nightfall found ourselves in the open sea, and full ten miles to
leeward of our destination. My men were now all very much
frightened, for if we went on we might be a. week at sea in our
little open boat, laden almost to the water's edge; or we might
drift on to the coast of New Guinea, in which case we should most
likely all be murdered. I could not deny these probabilities, and
although I showed them that we could not get back to our
starting-point with the wind as it was, they insisted upon
returning.
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