210 "ALBATEOSS" TROPICAL TACIFIC EXPEDITION. 



THE ELLICE ISLANDS. 



Plates 129-137 ; £12, figs. OS ,- 321, m2 ; 2^, fig- 1. 



The Ellice Islands^ extend in a northwesterly direction for nearly 360 

 miles (PI. 221). The group is composed of tlie large atolls of Funafuti (PI. 

 222)- and Nukufetau (PI. 212, fig. 6), and of seven smaller ones, Nukulailai, 

 Vaitupu, Niu, Niutao, Nanomana, Nanomea,^ and the island of Nurakita 

 (PI. 212, fig. 8), the southernmost of the group ; Nanomana, like Niutao 

 (PI. 212, fig. 7), is a flat island having no lagoon, a shallow brackish sink 

 occupying a part of the islands. 



On our way to Funafuti we stopped at Nurakita ; we also examined 

 Nukufetau. I was, of course, greatly interested in my visit at Funafuti, 

 where a boring had been made under the direction of a committee of the 

 Royal Society, in charge of Professor David, of Sydney, after the first' 

 attempt under Professor Sollas failed. The second boring reached a depth 

 of 1114 feet. This is not the place to discuss the bearing of the work done 

 at Funafuti, as, beyond the fact of the depth reached, we have as yet no 

 final statement by the Committee of the interpretation put upon the 

 detailed examination of the core obtained, and now in the hands of Pro- 

 fessor Judd and his assistants. 



Nurakita 



Plates 129, fig. 1; 212, fig. 8; 221. 



The first island of the Ellice Group we made was Nurakita; it is a 

 low flat island with a high beach (PI. 129, fig. 1), somewhat triangu- 

 lar in shape (PI. 212, fig. 8), about a mile long and one half to three 

 fourths of a mile wide. The high beach is topped by a wide belt of low 

 bushes, beyond which cocoanut trees and other forest trees stand out. The 

 island is surrounded by a broad reef flat forming a fringing reef. 



1 A. Charts 766, 987, 29S3. - Ibid., 2983. ? Ibid., 766, 987. 



