PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 63 



upon them extremely difficult. It may, however, chap. 

 be effected by anchoring the boat, and veering her v — v— ^ 

 close into the surf, and then, watching the opportu- JS. 

 nity, by jumping upon the ledge, and hastening to 

 the shore before the succeeding roller approaches. 

 In doing this great caution must be observed, as the 

 reef is full of holes and caverns, and the rugged way 

 is strewed with sea-eggs, which inflict very painful 

 wounds ; and if a person fall into one of these hol- 

 lows, his life will be greatly endangered by the 

 points of coral catching his clothes and detaining 

 him under water. The beach, which appears at a 

 distance to be composed of a beautiful white sand, 

 is wholly made up of small broken portions of the 

 different species and varieties of coral, intermixed 

 with shells of testaceous and crustaceous animals. 



Insignificant as this island is in height, compared 

 with others, it is extremely difficult to gain the 

 summit, in consequence of the thickly interlacing 

 shrubs which grow upon it, and form so dense a 

 covering, that it is impossible to see the cavities in 

 the rock beneath. They are at the same time too 

 fragile to afford any support, and the traveller often 

 sinks into the cavity up to his shoulder before his 

 feet reach the bottom. The soil is a black mould of 

 little depth, wholly formed of decayed vegetable 

 matter, through which points of coral every now 

 and then project. 



The largest tree upon the island is the pandanus, 

 though there is another tree very common, nearly 

 of the same size, the wood of which has a great re- 

 semblance to common ash, and possesses the same 

 properties. We remarked also a species of budleia, 

 which was nearly as large and as common, bearing 



