Page:Aspects of nature in different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations (IA b29329668 0002).pdf/77

 *[Footnote: Western Coast of America, are entirely without coral reefs, although so near to the many Atolls of the Low Islands, and the Archipelago of the Marquesas. This absence of corals might perhaps be ascribed to the presence of colder water, since we know that the coasts of Chili and Peru are washed by a cold current coming from the south and turning to the westward off Punta Parina, the temperature of which I found, in 1802, to be only 12°.5 Reaumur (60°.2 Fah.), while the undisturbed adjacent masses of water were from 22° to 23° Reaumur (81°.5 to 83°.8 Fah.); and there are also among the Galapagos small currents running between the islands, having a temperature of only 11°.7 Reaumur (58°.2 Fah.) But these lower temperatures do not extend farther to the north along the shores of the Pacific, and are not found upon the coasts of Guayaquil, Guatimala, and Mexico; nor does a low temperature prevail at the Cape de Verd Islands on the West Coast of Africa, or at the small islands of St. Paul (St. Paul's rocks), or at St. Helena, Ascension, or San Fernando Noronha,—which yet are all without coral reefs.

While this absence of coral reefs appears to characterise the western coasts of Africa, America, and Australia, on the other hand such reefs abound on the eastern coasts of tropical America, of Africa, on the coasts of Zanzibar and Australia, and on that of New South Wales. The coral banks which I have chiefly had opportunities of observing are those of the interior of the Gulf of Mexico, and those to the south of the Island of Cuba, in what are called the "Gardens of the King and Queen" (Jardines y Jardinillos]*