AGASSIZ: FIJI ISLANDS AND CORAL REEFS. 97 



Naitamba. 



Plate 19. 



The cliffs of the southeast side of Naitamba consist of volcanic con- 

 glomerates or pudding-stone, which extend along the highest points of 

 the ridge on that side of the island. But on the northern side of the 

 island the ridge, rising to a height of over 100 feet, is clearly seen to 



NAITAMBA, FROM THE EAST. 



be composed of elevated limestone. Xaitamba is surrounded by a 

 narrow lagoon (Plate 19), which is a little over half a mile wide off 

 the north side of the island, where its greatest depth is seven fathoms. 

 On the southwest side the lagoon is very shallow and narrow, the reef 

 becoming practically a fringing reef. The highest point of Naitamba 

 is 910 feet. 



Mothe. 



Plate 23. 



The Mothe group is interesting, consisting of a volcanic island, Mothe, 

 and of Karoni, a low island to the south of it, formed by a short ridge 

 of elevated limestone rising to a height of 120 feet. An outer reef flat 

 surrounds both the islands. It runs at a distance of a little over half a 

 mile from the shoi'e of Mothe itself, which is also surrounded by a very 

 narrow fringing reef. In that part 

 of the lagoon there is only from two 

 to five fathoms of water, and the 



KARONI. 



channel is studded with heads. 



The lagoon enclosed by the Mothe Reef is shaped like a boot, the foot 

 reaching towards the east and the leg in a northwesterly direction. 

 Mothe Island is elliptical in outline. Its gi-eatest diameter, running 

 north and south, is about two and a half miles, and it rises to a height 

 of 590 feet. There are only boat passages into the lagoon through the 

 eastern face. Although these passages are on the eastern face, yet they 

 are practically to the lee, owing to the westerly trend of the lagoon and 



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