AGASSIZ: FIJI ISLANDS AND CORAL KEEFS. 19 



indistiuct lagoon called Stone Axe Roads. The northeastern extension 

 of the east coast fringing reef forms an open roadstead. This spur is 

 covered with magnificient patches of coral in from one to three fathoms. 

 One can trace from the long line of lava negro-heads — some of these are 

 quite large — covering the reef jBats, tlie former northern extension of 

 the island. We could also trace to the south the low bluffs fi'om the 

 erosion of which have been formed the Hats upon which the fringing reef 

 has found a footing. A very sti'oug current was flowing over the spur of 

 Natliomaki Point, driven westward by the easterly trades. 



The principal ridge of the island runs transversely across it from the 

 southern point to its northeastern end. Its highest point is over 1,800 

 feet. The faces of the island are furrowed by deep valleys. 



Mbatiki. 



Plate 13. 



We did not land on Mbatiki, but steamed close enough to the shores 

 to obtain some idea of its characteristic features. The highest peak on 

 the northern side is a little over 600 feet. There are two deep indenta- 

 tions, one on the west, the other on the south side. It is surrounded by 

 a shore fringing reef from three points of which spurs extend parallel to 

 the shore, impounding three narrow shallow lagoons with a depth of 

 from three to five fathoms. The lagoons are full of coral heads. There 

 ai'e boat passes into two of the lagoons. The island is of volcanic 

 origin. 



Moala. 



Plates 16, 57. 



Moala is an island of volcanic origin, triangular in form, the eastern 

 face indented by a deep bay, fully two miles long, by about three 

 fourths of a mile in width, with sixteen fathoms in greatest depth. The 

 highest point of Moala is over fifteen hundred feet. The ridges sur- 

 rounding the deep bay have the appearance of being the rim of an 

 extinct crater (Plate 57), broken to the eastward, some points of which 

 rise from over twelve hundred to over fourteen hundred feet, the bay 

 formine- the bottom of the extinct crater. 



The western part of the north coast is edged by a fringing reef extend- 

 ing neai-ly a mile off shore ; towards the east the fringing reef proper 

 becomes quite narrow, while disconnected coral patches of considerable 



