THE MARSHALL ISLANDS. 277 



as, for instance, at Gehh and Tengeli on the west. face of Menscliikov, and 

 the manner in which they are worn, or undercut, and form walls or isolated 

 tables, as it were, would seem to indicate a slight elevation perhaps of a 

 couple of feet, since the corals flourished on the reef flat. 



The amount of sand which floats off from a lagoon and is blown to sea 

 is very considerable ; fresh material is constantly added from the beaches, 

 from the spits, and from the gaps along the land rims of such atolls as 

 Likieb and others in the Marshall Islands. The distance to which sand can 

 be carried by the trades is clearly shown by the amount of sand we 

 found in our nets in all the surface hauls in the Marshall Islands when 

 off the lee side of the atolls ; sand is floating there in considerable quanti- 

 ties. Off the east coast of the United States, from Cape Hatteras south, 

 shore sand is carried out to sea by the prevailing westerly winds to a 

 very considerable distance. 



It is interesting to compare the charts of the great groups of atolls in 

 the tropical Pacific, and to note the extensive differences existing in the 

 outlines of the atolls. Taking the Paumotus, as a whole, the atolls are 

 elliptical ; the few of irregular outline have rounded corners, and a number 

 are circular (Pis. 201-206). In Fiji many of the Lau Islands are most 

 irregular in outline ; others, on the contrary, are circular or elliptical 

 (PI. 220). 



The principal atolls of the Ellice Islands are of very different shapes 

 (Pis. 221, 222). In the Gilbert group we have atolls varying from trian- 

 gular to rectangular and elliptical or angular shape, not a single atoll 

 having the so-called typical outline (Pis. 223, 224, 226). 



In the Marshalls a few atolls are circular,^ but the majority of the 

 large atolls vary even more in shape than those of the groups we have 

 enumerated (Pis. 225, 227, 228). 



The Carolines likewise vary greatly in outline (Pis. 229-233), both the 

 volcanic islands as well as the low groups. In fact, by far the great majority 

 of the atolls of the tropical Pacific are irregular in outline, and it would be 

 impossible to detect from the charts their resemblance to the typical atoll. 



' Kubary has given an excellent account of Ebon and a sketch of the main pass into the atoll. 

 Journal d. Mus. Godeffroy, Heft I. p. 33. 



