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CHRISTMAS ISLAND
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See also:CHRISTMAS See also:ISLAND , a See also:British See also:possession under the See also:government of the Straits Settlements, situated in the eastern See also:part of the See also:Indian Ocean (in 10° 25' S., 105° 42' E.), about 190 m. S. of See also:Java. The island is a See also:quadrilateral with hollowed sides, about 12 M. in greatest length and 9 in extreme breadth. Itis probably the only tropical island that had never been inhabited by See also:man before the See also:European See also:settlement. When the first settlers arrived, in 1897, it was covered with a dense See also:forest of See also:great trees and luxuriant under-shrubbery. The settlement in Flying See also:Fish See also:Cove now See also:numbers some 250 inhabitants, consisting of Europeans, Sikhs, See also:Malays and See also:Chinese, by whom roads have been cut and patches of cleared ground cultivated. The island is the See also:flat See also:summit of a submarine See also:mountain more than 15,000 ft. high, the See also:depth of the See also:platform from which it rises being about 14,000 ft., and its height above the See also:sea being upwards of See also:i000 ft. The submarine slopes are steep, and within 20 M. of the See also:shore the depth of the sea reaches 2400 fathoms. It consists of a central See also:plateau descending to the See also:water in three terraces, each with its " tread " and " rise." The shore See also:terrace descends by a steep cliff to the sea, forming the " rise " of a submarine " tread " in the See also:form of fringing See also:reef which surrounds the island and is never uncovered, even at See also:low water, except in Flying Fish Cove, where the only landing-See also:place exists. The central plateau is a See also:plain whose See also:surface presents " R rounded, flat-topped hills and low ridges and reefs of See also:limestone," with narrow intervening valleys. On its See also:northern aspect this plateau has a raised rim having all the appearances of being once the margin of an See also:atoll. On these rounded hills occurs the See also:deposit of phosphate of See also:lime which gives the island its commercial value. The phosphatic deposit has doubtless been produced by the See also:long-continued See also:action of a thick See also:bed of sea-See also:fowl dung, which converted the carbonate of the underlying limestone into phosphate. The flat summit is formed by a See also:succession of limestones—all deposited in shallow water—from the See also:Eocene (or Oligocene) up to See also:recent deposits in the above-mentioned atoll with islands on its reef. The See also:geological sequence of events appears to have been the following:—After the deposition of the Eocene (or Oligocene) limestone—which reposes upon a See also:floor of basalts and trachytes—basalts and basic tuffs were ejected, over which, during a See also:period of very slow depression, orbitoidal limestones of See also:Miocene age—which seem to make up the great See also:mass of the island—were deposited; then elapsed a long period of See also:rest, during which the atoll See also:condition existed and the See also:guano deposit was formed; from then down to the See also:present See also:time there has succeeded a See also:series of sea-level subsidences, resulting in the formation of the terraces and the accummulation of the detritus now seen on the first inland cliff, the old submarine slope of the island. The occurrence of such a series of See also:Tertiary deposits appears to be unknown elsewhere. The whole series was evidently deposited in shallow water on the summit of a submarine See also:volcano See also:standing in its present See also:isolation, and See also:round which the ocean floor has probably altered but a few See also:hundred feet since the Eocene See also:age. Thus although the rocks of the See also:southern See also:coast of Java in their See also:general See also:character and succession resemble those of Christmas Island, there lies between them an abysmal trough 18,000 ft. in depth, which renders it scarcely possible that they were deposited in a continuous See also:area, for such an enormous depression of the sea-floor could hardly have occurred since Miocene times without involving also Christmas Island. One of the See also:main purposes of the exploration was to obtain See also:light on the question of the See also:foundation of atolls. The See also:flora consists of 129 See also:species of See also:angiosperms, 1 Cycas, 22 ferns, and a few mosses, See also:lichens and See also:fungi, 17 of which are endemic, while a considerable number—not specifically distinct—form See also:local varieties nearly all presenting Indo-Malayan See also:affinities, as do the single Cycas, the ferns and the cryptogams. As to its See also:fauna, the island contains 319 species of animals—54 only being vertebrates—145 of which are endemic. A very remarkable distributional fact in regard to them, and one not yet fully explained, is that a large number show See also:affinity with species in the Austro-Malayan rather than in the Indo-Malayan, their nearer, region. The ocean currents, the See also:trade-winds blowing from the Australian mainland, and See also:north-See also:westerly storms from the Malayan islands, are no doubt responsible for the introduction of many, but not all, of these Malayan and Australasian species. The See also:climate is healthy, the temperature varying from 75° to 84° F. The prevailing See also:wind is the S.E. trade, which
blows the greater part of the See also:year. The rainfall in the wet See also:season is heavy, but not excessive, and during the dry season the ground is refreshed with occasional showers and heavy dews. Malarial See also:fever is not prevalent, and it is interesting to See also:note that there are no swamps or standing See also:waters on the island.
It is not known when and by whom the island was discovered, but under the name of Moni it appears on a Dutch See also:chart of 1666. It was first visited in 1688 by See also:Dampier, who found it uninhabited. In 1886 See also:Captain Maclear of H.M.S. "Flying Fish," having discovered an anchorage in a See also:bay which he named Flying Fish Cove, landed a party and made a. small but interesting collection of the flora and fauna. In the following year Captain See also:Aldrich on H.M.S. " See also:Egeria " visited it, accompanied by Mr J. J. See also:Lister, F.R.S., who formed a larger biological and mineralogical collection. Among the rocks then obtained and submitted to See also:Sir See also: Soon afterwards a small settlement was established in Flying Fish Cove by Mr G. Clunies See also:Ross, the owner of the Keeling Islands, which See also:lie about 750 M. to the westward. In 1881 Mr Ross and Sir John Murray were granted a See also:lease, but on the further discovery of phosphatic deposits they disposed of their rights in 1897 to a See also:company. In the same year a thorough scientific exploration was made, at the cost of Sir John Murray, by Mr C. W. See also:Andrews, of the British Museum. See C. W. Andrews, A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean), (See also:London, 1900). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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