Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-09-01
A CORAL Island.
DIagO Garcia, a British Coaling station
in Mid Ocesn-TOrrid Heat aud Blind
ing ShoMers.

in Mid OCean-TOrrid Heat aud biihd-
ing showers.
Prom tie SATURDAY Reriet5.
People who have never seen coral Isl
ands talk as if they all resemble an earth
" paradise. From Cape G%uardatuI to
Cape Leewin, from Lisbon 10 Rio, one
may pass without meeting anything in
the way Of scenery more solid than a rain
cloud or q mountainous sea. OF late some
steamers, both Of the Royal Navy and of
the Orient line, touch at the southern
most island Of the Chagos Archipelago,
where a coaling station has been estab-
lished, and, in spite Of the difficulty which
might be anticipated in making an island
ln mid-ocean, the highest peak Of which
is only seven feet above high water, navi-
CATION has been reduced to such a scien-
tic certainty that a steamer can run in
at DiagO Garcia without deViating "a mile
from the set course. The island is as
nearly as possible In the longitude Of Bonn
bay, but more than seven degrees south
OF the equator.
1t lie thus situated in one Of tho hottest
places in the world, being just on the edge
ofthe comparatively temperate and cloudy
belt which lies On either side OF the line.
Fierce sunshine alternales daily with
heavy showers, the temperature between
80 and 80 degrees all the yearrOund, equal
day and night, or nearly so, all seasons
almost alike, except that there is a little
more vino IN Une than in Ja~nuary-such
is the climate. For scenery there are the
5000 600 cOc0anut palms and the varying
blue Of the inland sea. There are no
walks, no roads, no towns, no shops, no
amusemouts. Early IN the morning of
the DAY on which the steamer expects to
make Diego" the passenger hears the
usual cry of 'Land In sight, On the port
bow he can make out, through a binding
shower, what looks like the ghost Of n
waving wood, and as the rain clears OF
aud the eQually-blinding sunshine bursts
forth, he describes a row OF green palm
trees, all inclined one way by the wind,
growing from a green bank a few feet
only above the white breakers. These
are the six islands. They lie IN a ring,
being linked together by coral reefs which
approach the surface OF the sea, but do
not rise above 1t. Though no one inhab-
It's them, each islet has its name: EgmOnt,
for instance. and L'isie des Rats, and
S,palle, Lubine, Carre-pate or Tattamuc-
ca. a trading brig or two comes once or
twice a year from Mauritius and gathers
a cargo OF c%ocO8nuts. The anchorage is
good within the ring, and the entrance,
on the western side, is ABOUT seven faith
oms IN depth. A little further south is
another Of these strange rings-sCicntlIc
people call them 'atOlls"-the very dam
gelOus Pitt bank, which nowhere rises
above high water mark. A lille further
north there are SOM thirty islands, and
at least an equal number OF banks and
rocks and shoals and reefs, all of the same
coral formation. Here the prevailing
nomenclature Is Spanish rather than
krench-ChagOs and PerOs Banhos, for
example; but English surveyors have
Identified Speakers bank, Blenheim reef,
the Ganges, the Centurion. the Victory.
the Eagle and the Two Brothers, each
probably named after the ship by which
il was first visited, in some cases after
the ship first wrecked on it. The Bridge
water reef, for years a terror to naviga-
tors, has lately been proved not to exist;
for volcanic action, and other causes
which cannot be foreseen, so often affect
this CONFEDERATION of the oceans bed in
these attitudes. In all the geographical
characteristics are the same. A ring OF
coral surrounds a lagoon; there IS an en-
trance at the northwestern side; where
the coral is a foot or two above the tide,
q thick green robe OF clematis covers the
white rock and tall palms flourish over
head. Outside the se8 is in most cases
at least 200 tathoms deep, and inside it
varies from three fathOms in some atOlls
10 an almost untathOmable depth in 9TH
ers. In the Pacific the rising or sinking
of atolls and other islands las long formed
a subject Of careful observation. The
Fiji islands, for example, are believed to
be going down In the world, not figura-
lively, but really, while the New Hebrides
are slowly going up. Diego Garcia Is as
good an example as can be found Of the
''atoll" type. 1t is fully thirty miles in
circumference. If we could imagine all
the Isle of Wight sunk in the sea except
its sandy beach, we might form some idea
Of Diego. IL is a lake with a shore and
nothing else. The shore, in some places
a few feet, at others a few yards, but
never so much as asqua ter of a mile
wide, is entirely covered with trees. They
are chiefly ~c0cOanuts, but there are vari-
Gus kinds of tree ferns, n a few flower
ing shrubs. Near som Of the houses of
the few creole settlers from Mauritius
there are orange trees; but the whole pro-
duce OF the island consists of eOcOanuts,
and little else. One English family sta
TONED at Diego lives on a little islet east
of the entrance. 1t rains every day. The
mosquitoes are u%nequalec for size and
ferocity. The only food is an occasional
fresh fish, with timed meat and vegeta-
bles from England. The stray visitor
goes away di%senchanted with life on a
coral island, and ready to prefer the dis
comforts OF civilization.