24 



BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



Makongai is edged with a fringing reef. The islands in the Makongai 

 lagoon are in the northeast corner close to the eastern face of the outer 

 reef. The lagoon has a general depth of from thirteen to seventeen 

 fathoms, with a greatest depth of twenty-one fathoms in the northern 

 part. The southern part of the lagoon is full of coral patches, remnants 

 of islands and islets similar to those of the small island of Tambaka, still 

 connected with Makongai by a neck of boulders, which reaches to the 

 westward as an extensive flat, and fringed below low water mark with 

 flourishing patches of corals. Such a patch with a few angular blocks 



LEDGE OFF JIAKONDRANGA. 



still visible above high water mark, lies off the southwest point of 

 Makondranga, and many others off the southeastern face of Makongai. 

 Corals within the lagoon grow in from seven to one or two fathoms. 

 The rest of the bottom of the lagoon consists of coral and coralline 

 sand. 



Makongai and Wakaya are connected by a narrow reef ridge about a 

 mile in length. The island of Wakaya is nine miles long, triangular in 

 shape, tapering to a point, and situated close to the western edge of the 

 outer reef of the lagoon. A fringing reef edges its eastern face, while 

 the extension of the outer reef forms the wider fringing reef of the 

 western shore. Towards the south this part of the fringing reef encloses 

 two secondary lagoons, one of which has a depth of five fathoms. The 

 southern part of the outer reef is continuous ; the northeastern face is 

 broken by several passages, and there are three to the north of Wakaya 

 on the western face. The highest point of Wakaya is nearly 600 feet, 

 forming a range of steep bluffs along the northern part of the island, 

 which slopes very gi-adually to the east. The southern part of the island 



