Phillips. — On the Volcanoes of the Pacific. 201 



The Hogulu group of islands, in the Carolines, is composed 

 of ten lofty basaltic islands and numerous coral islands en- 

 closed in a vast lagoon like a large lake in the sea. Yap, or 

 Hap, or Guap is also of volcanic origin. 



Asking pardon for this digression, I now proceed onwards 

 to the eastern Pacific, so as to finish this portion of my 

 subject. 



Some of the Paumotus are rising, some sinking, some in a 

 state of rest. Henderson Island is 80 ft. high. Pitcairn and 

 the Gambiers rise to 1,000 ft. Osnaburg Island appears to 

 have changed since 1790 from a "reef of sunken rocks" to 

 an island fourteen miles long ; whilst Archangel Island 

 (20° 29' S.) appears to have sunk out of sight since 1606. 

 Actual volcanic action is most peculiar. It really appears to 

 delight in confining itself (in the one given line) to one spot 

 or pipe at a time, striking a blow or thump from below to 

 "knock out," as it were, one identical spot; which, if weak 

 enough, " gives " to the imprisoned giant, and we have an 

 elevation or a crater. At sea this thump from below strikes 

 a vessel as if she had gone crash upon a rock. Quite 

 recently a vessel sailing from San Francisco to Japan met 

 with such an experience in the northern Pacific, and it made 

 the crew dazed and sick. The greater the pressure of water 

 the more the imprisoned giant likes to assert itself ; but 

 directly it meets with no resistance it acts quite gently, and 

 expands its force in slight elevations above the sea. But I 

 regard volcanic phenomena as the great ultimate friend of 

 man, notwithstanding any immediate damage they may do. 



Many of these Paumotu Islands descend sheer 1,500 ft. to 

 4,000 ft. within 1,000 yards of the reef. Aurora Island 

 (15° 48' S.) is an uplifted coral island about 230 ft. high, with 

 the usual perpendicular sides found all along this line, and 

 nowhere else that I know of on the planet except in Pos- 

 session Island, in the Antarctic, where Sir James C. Eoss 

 landed in 1841. The Tongan Islets are positively square, 

 having flat tops and straight sides. Of course, there are 

 many coasts with perpendicular cliffs, but what I wish to 

 say is that these straight -up -and -down islands show up- 

 heaval, and not subsidence. 



Of course, a vast deal of geological work is required to be 

 done in the Pacific, now the very home of volcanic activity, 

 as it were, of this planet — here and in the antarctic region. 

 In Appendix B I give a brief account of the antarctic 

 volcanoes from a paper by Captain Borchgrevinck, in order 

 that all the information I can collect of volcanic action within 

 the sphere of the Pacific Ocean, as it were, may be collected 

 in one paper for the use of future observers. 



The Marquesas lie nine hundred miles to the north-east of 



