LIKIEB. 311 



glomerate ; a long sand spit extends towards the west from Agony Island. 

 On the lagoon side of the pass are two islands thrown up on the lagoon 

 reef flat, and dividing the passage into two channels. One of the islands 

 is a mere sand bar, and the other a low wooded islet flanked with beach 

 rock. In the distance loom up the islands and islets and sand bars flanked 

 with coral sand beaches which form the weather side of Likieb atoll. 



We entered the south pass of Likieb, passing Agony Island (PI. 174, 

 fig. 4), flanked on the lagoon side with beach rock shingle ; the island is 

 covered with brush and hardwood trees. Here and there a low sand spit 

 reaches into the lagoon from the half-submerged reef flat on the south face. 

 Between Agony and Likieb Islands a number of small wooded islets occur on 

 the narrow reef flat to the west of Likieb (PI. 228, fig. 3). Both Likieb and 

 Lado are comparatively broader islands than usually form part of the land 

 rim in the Marshall atolls. They are both on a very wide reef flat, nearly 

 three miles wide at places ; the flat forms the southeastern horn of the 

 atoll, and has probably been formed by sand blowing into the angle of 

 the eastern and southern faces of the reef platform, and covering the coral 

 heads which probably once flourished there. The reef flat becomes gradu- 

 ally narrower to the westward of Lado; it is narrowest about half-way 

 toward the northwestern point. The lagoon side of the island of Likieb 

 (PI. 175, fig. 2) is formed by low coral sand beaches. 



A coarse grass grows on the low beach of the lagoon side to the very 

 edge of the shingle flat or of the beach rock conglomerate. On the lagoon 

 side the shingle beaches are composed of small fragments of corals and of 

 beach rock conglomerate consisting almost entirely of fragments of recent 

 corals. The steep sea face beach of Likieb is at least fourteen feet high 

 (PI. 175, fig. 1). From the base of the shingle beach extends a reef 

 flat about 250 feet wide, planed off out of the beach rock conglomerate, 

 and sloping gradually towards the outer edge of Nullipore and Pocillipore 

 knolls rising to a height of three to four feet above low-water mark. On 

 the outer face the reef flat is gouged out into narrow and deep boat 

 passages. Masses of dead coral boulders in place form portions of the 

 outer reef flat (PL 175, fig. 1) ; they must have grown in the spaces 

 between the ledges of beach rock conglomerate which form the reef 



