6o6 Vofjage of the Novara. 



we found some of the canoes of the natives awaiting our ap- 

 proach, who now, as though they had been on the look-out for 

 our arrival, came off to us, some in their boats, others swimming, 

 to inform us that, it being ebb-tide, the entry into the lagoon 

 was not very easy, but that at high-water one could pass right 

 over the reef, in even larger boats than ours. It was accord- 

 ingly arranged tliat two of the boats should anchor outside 

 the reef, and only one should be hauled inside the lagoon 

 with a rope for our further use. But even this could not be 

 managed until by removing all baggage and transhipping 

 almost her entire crew, she had been made sufficiently light. 



The passage between the coral reefs and tlie lagoon is at 

 high- water about three feet deep, but at lowest ebb it is barely 

 a foot in depth, and three to four feet wide, and then the reef 

 juts up at most ^Joints to such extent, that a skilled equilibrist 

 may (although not to the advantage of his soles) easily reach 

 the interior of the lagoon without wetting his shoes. As soon, 

 however, as this narrow entrance, which is about 300 feet 

 long, has been passed, the navigation becomes easier. The 

 appearance of the reef was very peculiar. Corals of every de- 

 scription, Astroece, 3f(Bandrince, 3Iadriporce, form a sort of series 

 of clusters of stone-bushes, among which beautifully mottled 

 fish swim about, while starfish of an exquisite indigo blue, and 

 mussels of the most extraordinary forms, people the ground. 



The atoll presents some very remarkable geological features. 

 At its N.W. side, close to the reef and as it were growing to 

 it, stand two singular vase-shaped rocks, from 8 to 10 feet in 



