The pillars are forty-two feet in height; their surface is smooth and uninjured to the height of about twelve feet above their pedestals. Above this, is a zone, twelve feet in height, where the marble has been pierced by a species of marine perforating bivalve – Lithodomus, Cuv. The holes of these animals are pear-shaped, the external opening being minute, and gradually increasing downwards. At the bottom of the cavities, many shells are still found, notwithstanding the great numbers that have been taken by the visitors. The perforations are so considerable in depth and size, that they manifest a long continued abode of the Lithodomi in the columns; for, as the inhabitant grows older and increases in size, it bores a larger cavity, to correspond with the increasing magnitude of its shell. We must, consequently, infer a long continued immersion of the pillars in sea-water, at a time when the lower part was covered up and protected by strata of tuff and the rubbish of buildings, the highest part at the same time projecting above the waters, and being consequently weathered, but not materially injured.

Estoy sentado aquí en el atolón. Estoy sentado y plantado aquí en el atolón.