observed in the Western Pacific. 211 



there, and who were the sculptors, can be only a subject 

 of conjecture. The inhabitants of the island were occu- 

 pied in stock-raising, both cattle and sheep. The common 

 domestic fowl is found over most parts in a perfectly- 

 wild state, and a few were shot, but their freedom had not 

 improved them as an article of food. Close to the anchorage 

 is the extinct volcano of Rano Kao, which is about 1200 feet 

 in height, and has a most regularly formed crater nearly a 

 mile across. Up to about seven or eight hundred feet from 

 the top it contains water, with a thick covering of green 

 vegetation so strongly interlaced that any one acquainted 

 with the paths can cross ; but as there are open spaces of 

 water and some very weak spots in the covering, nearly every 

 year some one is lost, and cattle are frequently drowned. 

 One of these water-spaces was sounded with 300 feet of line, 

 but no bottom was obtained. The only birds I saw in the 

 crater were three ruddy-coloured Geese, but I was unable to 

 get anywhere near them. I also saw a tame Anous stolidus 

 in one of the houses, so it is probable that this species fre- 

 quents the island. 



Ducie Island, in about 26° S., which was visited on the 

 16th March, is a very dangerous atoll, havnig a sandy beach 

 with some clumps of bushes, not more than 40 feet high, on 

 its northern side ; and a barrier-reef, over which a very heavy 

 surf was breaking, fringes the remainder. The lagoon is 

 very shallow, and has a few passages suitable for boats in 

 calmer weather. Landing was effected on the northern side, 

 where the British barque ' Arcadia ' was laying a total wreck, 

 having most likely gone on shore during night or thick 

 weather. The Red-tailed Tropic-bird, Phaethon rubricauda, 

 was breeding in great numbers, and our blue-jackets enjoyed 

 themselves greatly in collecting eggs and bundles of the red 

 tail-feathers. The latter operation was rendered easy ; the 

 birds being without guile, allowed themselves to be lifted up 

 by the feathers, and their own weight did the rest. Anous 

 stolidus and Gygis Candida were also obtained, and there 

 was also a large Petrel, only the eggs of which I secured. 



Pitcairn Island, the happy home of the descendants of the 



p2 



