504 



SNODGRASS AND HELLER 



tioned there at that time we are indebted for generous hospi- 

 tality, and for aid given in obtaining specimens of the fauna of 

 the island. 



COCOS ISLAND. 



Cocos Island lies in latitude 5° 33' north and longitude 87° 2' 

 west. It is about four miles long in its longest diameter, which 

 is east and west, and has a circumference of about thirteen 

 miles. Its highest part, on its western side, is visible from a 

 distance of sixty miles. The island is mountainous, presenting 

 on all sides perpendicular cliffs, and above these steep slopes 

 and canyons. The northern side, however, has several in- 

 dentations. Chatham Bay, on the northeast shore, is well 

 protected from the oceanic swells, and affords good anchorage 

 in fourteen fathoms half a mile from land. At the middle of 

 the shore of the bay is a sand-beach, on which an easy boat- 

 landing may be made, for in quiet weather the surf is low. 

 Streams of fresh water flow down on all sides of the island, in 

 most places pouring over the cliffs into the ocean. About Chat- 

 ham Bay the slope is gentler than at most other places, for here 

 a large canyon comes down to the beach, and the stream in its 

 bed cuts through the sand of the beach into the ocean. Wafer 

 Bay, on the northwest side of the island, about a mile from 

 Chatham Bay, is said to be a much inferior anchorage, on ac- 

 count of its deeper water and the heavy swell that enters it. 



The rock composing Cocos Island is volcanic, but is not 

 made up of layers of lava as is the case with the Galapagos, 

 Rivillagigido and Guadalupe Islands, but, at least about Chat- 

 ham Bay, forms one solid mass as does the volcanic rock on 

 Clipperton Island. The surface is greatly eroded, there being 

 everywhere, as before stated, numerous deep canyons, and the 

 rock is almost everywhere covered by a rich shallow soil. 



The climate resembles that of Clipperton, being extremely 

 humid. The island lies in the warm counter equatorial current 

 which flows past Cocos in an easterly direction toward Panama 

 Bay, where its waters are deflected to the north and south. 

 With the currents flowing as they now do, it is apparently im- 

 possible for plants or animals to be carried by them from the 

 mainland to Cocos Island. 



