70 



"ALBATROSS" EASTERN TROPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. 



Mount Mokoto(Pl. 61) and Mount Duff (Pis. 57-61) drop precipitously for 

 more than one- third their height, and in less than a quarter of a mile fall 

 from over 1300 feet to the level of the sea. Similar slopes are found along 

 the volcanoes of Easter Island (PI. 13) where there are no coral reefs. The 

 edge of the crater of Rana Kao drops perpendicularly a height of nearly 

 1000 feet in less than one-eighth of a mile horizontal distance ; and the 

 eastern face of the crater of Rana Roroka rises vertically about 800 feet 

 above the plain of Tongariki (PI. 26). 



Canebhake. 



It is interesting to note how poor is the flora of the Manga Reva archi- 

 pelago as compared with that of the more western volcanic islands like the 

 Marquesas and the Society Islands and some of the western elevated Pau- 

 motus.^ In the Gambler archipelago the forests are reduced to a few patches 

 extending along the small valleys of the slopes of the volcanic spurs (Pis. 58, 

 61, 62). I am informed that even in the thirties of the last century, when 



' The vegetation on the islands of the outer encircling reefs consists of the usual Pacific reef- 

 shrubs : Tournefortia, the "miki niiki " (Pempliis aciJula), the " Huhu " (Suriana maritima), 

 Triumphetta procumbens, and the universal Scaevola kouigii exclusive of Pandanus, and cocoanut 

 trees. 



