78 Director's Amuial Report. 



lowing account. I venture the hope that the present paper may 

 be the first of a series of monographs which the Trustees may 

 see fit to publish on some of the more interesting" and as yet little 

 known islands of this vast ocean. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Marcus Island, the subject of the present monograph, was so 

 little known at a date as recent as 1900 that it could not be dis- 

 tinguished with certainty, either in location or characteristics, from 

 a number of reported islands which are said to lie in that portion 

 of the ocean, and since it was impossible to obtain definite informa- 

 tion, however brief, concerning it, it seems but fitting to bring 

 together here a history of the island so far as it can be gathered. 



On a Mercator's projecflion map this mere speck of land rising 

 above the ocean's surface is distant from Honolulu 2400 miles, and 

 4500 miles west by south from San Francisco, some 1200 miles 

 southeast of Yokohama, and not less than 1000 miles from Guam, 

 the nearest American soil. A number of corredled readings taken 

 by our vessel places the centre of the island in Lat. 24° 14' N., and 

 154° E. Long. L,os Jardines, the nearest islands which are not 

 direcflly confused with Marcus Island, are placed on certain maps 

 and charts 200 miles to the southwest with their position indicated 

 as doubtful ; however, as they are described as being two small 

 islands which were discovered in 1788 by Captain Marshall, and 

 have been reported at rare intervals since by whalers, they need 

 not here be taken farther into account. As to who named Marcus 

 Island and for whom it was named the records at hand give no 

 clue; doubtless its discovery, early history and naming are lost in 

 the maze of uncertain and oftimes unreliable log books kept by 

 tho.se hardy seamen who made long voyages in these waters while 

 engaged in the whaling industr3\ 



Turning to the Direcflory of the North Pacific Ocean, published 

 in 1886, I find that "Marcus Island has been shown as a doubtful 

 island in Lat. 24° 25' N., and lyong. 153° 45' E; but several other 

 announcements of islands are found hereabouts. Island from 

 whalers report, iu Lat. 24° N., 150° 40' E. Another island in 

 24° 5' N., 150° 10' E. It was seen by Captain Kilton in the David 

 Hoadley in May, 1868. He describes it as a low, level, sandy island 

 covered with trees and bushes, about two or three miles long east 



