A naturalist in north Celebes : a narrative of travels in Minahassa, the Sangir and Talaut Islands, with notices of the fauna, flora and ethnology of the districts visited . wide expanseof the sea at our feet, of that deep sapphire blue colourwhich is only met with in the deep waters of the greatoceans, framed by the greenish blue water of the shores andcoral lagoons, the great expanse of the blue heavens, brokenonly by a single cloud stationary over the distant Siauwvolcano, the infinite variety of green and brown foliage onthe forest slopes of the neighbouring island, and then in thefar dist
A naturalist in north Celebes : a narrative of travels in Minahassa, the Sangir and Talaut Islands, with notices of the fauna, flora and ethnology of the districts visited . wide expanseof the sea at our feet, of that deep sapphire blue colourwhich is only met with in the deep waters of the greatoceans, framed by the greenish blue water of the shores andcoral lagoons, the great expanse of the blue heavens, brokenonly by a single cloud stationary over the distant Siauwvolcano, the infinite variety of green and brown foliage onthe forest slopes of the neighbouring island, and then in thefar distance the azure mountains of Minahassa in one direc-tion and of the Sangir Islands in another, presented one ofthose magnificent panoramic pictures which it has rarelybeen my good fortune to see, and which once seen can neverbe forgotten. The little island of Passiac, which, as may be seenby reference to the chart, lies only about four miles fromthe Euang, was of particular interest to me. The partabove water and covered with trees is only a small arc ofthe rim of a large almost ring-shaped atoll stretching outtowards a very wide barrier or fringing reef on the coast. CH. m ON BOARD FLYING FISH 45 of Tagulandang. The presence of atolls and barrier reefsin the neighbourhood of active volcanoes is by no means acommon occurrence, and Darwin was inclined to believe that,as volcanoes are usually situated in regions of elevation,this fact was consistent with his famous theory that atollsand barrier reefs are only formed during subsidence of theland. For many reasons which I cannot enter into now Iam persuaded that the subsidence theory is not sufficient toaccount for aU the facts, and that the presence of such anatoU as the Passiac so close to a region of quite recent andconsiderable volcanic activity is difficult to account for underthis theory. But, as I have spoken so frequently of the volcanic energyof the Euang, I may be allowed to digress here a little, torelate the story
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectethnology, booksubjectnaturalhistory
