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KEELING ISLANDS (often called Cocos a...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 712 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KEELING ISLANDS (often called Cocos and Cocos-KEELING ISLANDS) , a See also:

group of See also:coral islands in the See also:Indian Ocean, between 12° 4' and See also:F2° 13' S., and 96° W–57' E., but including a smaller See also:island in 11° 50' N. and 96° 50' E. The group furnished See also:Charles See also:Darwin with the typical example of an See also:atoll or See also:lagoon island. There are altogether twenty-three small islands, 91 M. being the greatest width of the whole atoll. The lagoon is very shallow and the passages between many of the islands are fordable on See also:foot. An opening on the See also:northern See also:side of the See also:reef permits the entrance of vessels into the northern See also:part of the lagoon, which forms a See also:good See also:harbour known as See also:Port See also:Refuge or Port See also:Albion. The coco-See also:nut (as the name Cocos Islands indicates) is the characteristic product and is cultivated on all the islands. The See also:flora is scanty in See also:species. One of the commonest living creatures is a monstrous crab which lives on the coco-nuts; and in some places also there are See also:great colonies of the See also:pomegranate crab. The group was visited by Dr H. O. See also:Forbes in 1878, and later, at the expense of See also:Sir See also:John See also:Murray, by Dr Guppy, Mr See also:Ridley and Dr See also:Andrews. The See also:object of their visits was the investigation of the See also:fauna and flora of the atoll, more especially of the formation of the coralreefs.

Dr Guppy was fortunate in reaching See also:

North Keeling Island, where a landing is only possible during the calmest See also:weather. The island he found to be about a mile See also:long, with a shallow enclosed lagoon, less than 3 ft. deep at See also:ordinary See also:low See also:water, with a single opening on its See also:east or weather side. A dense vegetation of See also:iron-See also:wood (Cordia) and other trees and shrubs, together with a See also:forest of coco-nut palms, covers its See also:surface. It is tenanted by myriads of See also:sea-See also:fowl, See also:frigate-birds, boobies, and terns (Gygis candida), which find here an excellent nesting-See also:place, for the island is uninhabited, and is visited only once or twice a See also:year. The excrement from this large See also:colony has changed the carbonate of See also:lime in the See also:soil and the coral nodules on the surface into See also:phosphates, to the extent in some cases of 6o-7o%, thus forming a valuable See also:deposit, beneficial to the vegetation of the island itself and promising commercial value. The lagoon is slowly filling up and becoming cultivable See also:land, but the See also:rate of recovery from the sea has been specially marked since the eruption of See also:Krakatoa, the See also:pumice from which was washed on to it in enormous quantity, so that the lagoon advanced its shores from 20 to 30 yards. Forbes's and Guppy's investigations go to show that, contrary to Darwin's belief, there is no See also:evidence of upheaval or of subsidence in either of the Keeling See also:groups. The atoll has an exceedingly healthy See also:climate, and might well be used as a See also:sanatorium for phthisical patients, the temperature never reaching extremes. The highest See also:annual See also:reading of the thermometer hardly ever exceeds 89° F. or falls beneath 700. The mean temperature for the year is 78.5° F., and as the rainfall rarely exceeds 40 in. the See also:atmosphere never becomes unpleasantly moist. The See also:south-east See also:trade blows almost ceaselessly for ten months of the year. Terrific storms sometimes break over the island; and it has been more than once visited by earthquakes.

A profitable trade is done in coco-nuts, but there are few other exports. The imports are almost entirely foodstuffs and other necessaries for the inhabitants, who See also:

form a patriarchal colony under a private proprietor. The islands were discovered in 1609 by See also:Captain See also:William Keeling on his voyage from See also:Batavia to the Cape. In 1823 See also:Alexander See also:Hare, an See also:English adventurer, settled on the southernmost island with a number of slaves. Some two or three years after, a Scotchman, J. See also:Ross, who had commanded a brig during the English occupation of See also:Java, settled with his See also:family (who continued in the ownership) on Direction Island, and his little colony was soon strengthened by Hare's runaway slaves. The Dutch See also:Government had in an informal way claimed the See also:possession of the islands since 1829; but they refused to allow Ross to hoist the Dutch See also:flag, and accordingly the group was taken under See also:British See also:protection in 1856. In 1878 it was attached to the government of See also:Ceylon, and in 1882 placed under the authority of the See also:governor of the Straits Settlements. The ownership and superintendency continued in the Ross family, of whom See also:George Clunies Ross died in 1910, and was succeeded by his son See also:Sydney. See C. Darwin, See also:Journal of the Voyage of the" Beagle," and See also:Geological Observations on Coral Reefs ; also See also:Henry O. Forbes, A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern See also:Archipelago (See also:London, 1884) ; H.

B. Guppy, " The Cocos-Keeling Islands," Scottish See also:

Geographical See also:Magazine (vol. v., 1889). See also:KEEL-MOULDING, in See also:architecture, a See also:round on which there is a small'See also:fillet, somewhat like the keel of a See also:ship. It is See also:common in the See also:Early English and Decorated styles.

End of Article: KEELING ISLANDS (often called Cocos and Cocos-KEELING ISLANDS)

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