The outer edge of the reef on the western or leeward side of the island is tolerably well defined, and is a little higher than any other part. - nonfiction sciencefiction
Reefs of Mauritius.—Shallow channel within the reef.—Its slow filling up.—Currents of water formed within it.—Upraised reefs.—Narrow fringing-reefs in deep seas.—Reefs on the coast of East Africa and of Brazil.—Fringing-reefs in very shallow seas, round banks of sediment and on worn-down islands.—Fringing-reefs affected by currents of the sea.— Coral coating the bottom of the sea, but not forming reefs.
Fringing-reefs, or, as they have been called by some voyagers, shore-reefs, whether skirting an island or part of a continent, might at first be thought to differ little, except in generally being of less breadth, from barrier-reefs.