. Island life : or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates . MAP OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. The light tint shows where the sea is less than 1,000 fathoms figures show the depth in fathoms. sterile and comparatively uninhabitable by its three activevolcanoes and their widespread deposits of lava. The ocean depths by which these islands are separatedfrom the nearest continents are enormous. North, east,and south, soundings have been obtained a little over orunder three thousand fathoms, and t
. Island life : or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates . MAP OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. The light tint shows where the sea is less than 1,000 fathoms figures show the depth in fathoms. sterile and comparatively uninhabitable by its three activevolcanoes and their widespread deposits of lava. The ocean depths by which these islands are separatedfrom the nearest continents are enormous. North, east,and south, soundings have been obtained a little over orunder three thousand fathoms, and these profound deepsextend over a large part of the North Pacific. We may 312 ISLAND LIFE II be quite sure, therefore, that the Sandwich Islands have,during their whole existence, been as completely severedfrom the great continents as they are now; but on the 160 E. 170. MAP OF THE NORTH PACIFIC WITH ITS SUBMERGED BANKS. The light tint shows where the sea is less than 1,000 fathoms dark tint ,, ,, ,, more than 1,000 fathoms deep. The figures show the* depths in fathoms. west and south there is a possibility of more extensiveislands having existed, serving as stepping-stones to theisland groups of the Mid-Pacific. This is indicated by afew widely-scattered coral islets, around which extend CHAP. XV THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 313 considerable areas of less depth, varying from two hundredto a thousand fathoms, and which may therefore indicatethe sites of submerged islands of considerable we consider that east of New Zealand and NewCaledonia, all the larger and loftier islands are of volcanicorigin, with no trace of any ancient stratified rocks(except, perhaps, in the Marquesas, where, according toJules Marcou, granite and gneiss are said to occur) itseems probable that the innumerable coral-reefs and atolls,which occur in groups on
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