Excerpt from The Treasure of Cocos Island: A Story of the Indian Ocean
Horsburgh the Borneo Coral Islands, a group in the Indian Ocean, about six hundred miles south of the coast of Sumatra, in 12° 5' S. Lat. And 90° 55' E. Long., well known as having furnished Mr. Darwin with the typical example of an atoll or lagoon island. There are altogether twenty-three small islands, nine and a half miles being the greatest width of the whole atoll. The lagoon is very shallow, and the passages between many of the islands of such trifling depth that it is possible to 'walk at low tide with some slight wading all the way from Direction Isl and to West Island.' An opening on the northern side of the reef permits the entrance of vessels into the northern part of the lagoon, which forms a good harbor known as Port Refuge, or Port Albion. The climate is temperate and extremely healthy. Terrific storms sometimes break over the islands, and it has been more than once visited by earth quakes.
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