68 INDEX TO THE PACfFfC ISLANDS. 



the two frigates of the expedition. A pi6liiresqiie rock, very difficult of ascent, 

 rises 120 ft. from the lagoon, and around are reefs and sand banks. Coarse grass 

 and some small shriibs compose the vegetation. The lagoon and outer shores 

 abound in sharks. 23° 46' 30" X., 166" 16' \v. 3. 



Freycinet, in Dumbea passage, New Caledonia. Round, moderately high, wooded. 



Friday, north from Prince of Wales in Torres strait. 10' 35' s., 142 09' K. 



Friendly, the name given by Cook to the Tongan group. 



Frith, in the southwest part of Moresby strait, D'Entrecasteaux group. 2 m. K-w., 

 1.2 m. N-s.; 500zb ft. high; man}- inhabitants. Wallaby abound. 



Ftia, islet of Hapai, Tongan islands. 



Fulanga, Fiji group. The west bluff is 150 ft. high. Inhabited. Fine timber. 

 19 04' 30" s., 181° 19' 40" E. East end. 



Fulatutasi, islet of Fakaafo or Bowditch. 9 24' S., 171 13' \v. 



Funafana, southernmost island of the Ellice islands. 



Funafuti, or Ellice, was discovered by Captain de Peyster March 18, 1819. A lagoon 

 atoll 13 m. by 7.2 m. There are some 30 islets; principal one long but ver^- 

 narrow. Of recent interest as the scene of a boring into the coral reef, and of zoo- 

 logical investigations, which have been pitblished by the Australian Museum.* 

 8° 35' 50" s., 179° 10' 40" K. 16. 



Fungalei, islet of Uvea or Wallis; about 200 ft. high. 



Furneaux, a group in Bass strait composed of Clarke, Cape Barren and Flinders. 



Futuna, or Erronan of the New Hebrides, is about 15 m. in circumference and 1931 ft. 

 high. There are 900 inhabitants; of Tongan origin. 



Gabagabawa, islet northwest from Duau, D'Entrecasteaux group. 9°44's., 150° 53' E. 



Gabba, islet on south coast of New Guinea. 9° 45' s., 142° 37' E. 



Gadogadoa, prominent islet, 315 ft. high, on the southeast coast of New Guinea. 



Gagan, islet of Kwadjelin of the Marshall islands. 



Galapagos. This group, on some accounts one of the most interesting in the Pacific 

 region, lies on the equator some 600 miles from Equador, to which it belongs. It 

 extends 1 30' both north and south of the equator, and the centre of the group is 

 in longitude 90" 30' w. Dampier, who visited these islands in May, 1684, gave a 

 quaint accouut of their inhabitants: "The Spaniards, when they first discovered 

 these islands, foitnd multitudes of guanoes ( iguanas ) and land-turtle or tortoise, 

 and named them the Galapagos ( tortoise ) islands. I do believe there is no place 

 in the world that is so plentifully stored with these animals. The guanos here 

 are fat and large as any that I ever saw ; they are so tame that a man may knock 

 down 20 in an hour's time with a club. The land-turtle are here so numerous 

 that 500 or 600 men might subsist on them alone for several months without an}- 

 other sort of provision ; they are extraordinary large and fat, and so sweet that no 

 pullet eats more pleasantl}-." All the early visitors speak of the abundance of 

 this nutritious food; the buccaneers made good use of it, and in 1813 Porter, near 



*Taking this island as a typical Central Pacific atoll, we may note the fauna as given by Hedley in the Memoirs of the Australian Museum, 

 iii., 1899. No other portion of this Central Pacific fauna has been so well studied. It is composed of 2 Mammals, 15 Birds, 5 Reptiles, 

 73 Fishes, 2 Knteropneusts, S7 Crustaceans, 27 Arachnid.s, 5 Myriopods. 42 Insects, 440 Molluscs, i Brachiopod, 2S Echinoderms, 5 Annelids, 

 12 Gephyrean worms, 16 Sponges. 8 Hydrozoa, 2 Scyphozoa, and 120 Aiftinozoa, 



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