242 CORALS AND CORAL LSLANDS. 



in great abundance; it was planted along each side of the 

 pond. Grey added further, that ten ships of the line might 

 water there, though the place was not reached without some 

 difficulty. There were fish in the pond, which had been put 

 in while young. The bottom was adhesive, like clay. These 

 islands have been elevated a little, but are not over fifteen 

 feet above the sea. 



Kotzebue observes, that '^ in the inner part of Otdia (one 

 of the Marshall Islands), there is a lake of sweet water ; and 

 in Tabual, of the Group Aur, a marshy ground exists. There 

 is no want of fresh water in the larger islands ; it rises in 

 abundance in the pits dug for the purpose." — Voyage, Lon- 

 don, 1821, iii. 145. 



The island of Quiros, or Gente-Hermosa, has, according 

 to S. J. Whitnell, a fresh-water lagoon, only slightly brackish, 

 about three miles in diameter. He states that the connec- 

 tion between the lagoon and the sea must have been closed 

 at a comparatively recent date ; its level is unaffected by the 

 tides. There is a fresh-water lagoon also, according to the 

 same authority, in the neighbouring island of Lakena. 



The only source of this water is the rains, which, perco- 

 lating through the loose sands, settle upon the hardened 

 coral rock that forms the basis of the island. As the soil 

 is white, or nearly so, it receives heat but slowly, and there 

 is consequently but Httle evaporation of the water that is 

 once absorbed. 



Water is sometimes obtained by making a large cavity in 

 the body of a cocoanut tree, two feet or so from the ground. 

 At the Duke of York's Island, and probably also at the ad- 

 jacent Bowditch Island, this method is put in practice ; the 

 cavities hold five or six gallons of water. 



The tropical birds of the islands are often more in keeping 

 with the beautiful scenery about them than the savage inha- 

 bitants. On one atoll— Honden Island, of the Paumotus, where 

 no natives had ever dwelt — the birds were so innocent of fear, 

 that we took them from the trees as we would fruit, and many 

 a songster lost a tail-feather, as it sat perched on a branch, 



