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J. STANLEY GARDINER. 



rounded, that have become firmly consolidated by sand and deposited carbonate of lime. In places 

 it is being worn away and pinnacles of it left on the reef or sand flat. In their composition the 

 rock masses simulate coral rock, but their surfaces are much more rounded and their corals are seen 

 at the first glance not to be in the position of growth, and are mostly small broken masses. 



Mutali is a sand bank, similar to Embudu, washing away slightly N. and S. but growing out 

 in spits to the E. and W. Mawa Faro, which I saw only at high tide, does not differ materially 

 from the Chart, save that its velu extends much further N. and S. and its E. reef is quite narrow. 

 Warufinur lies on the Turadu reef, but further back from its seaward edge than that island. It is 

 of sand formation, growing out N.W. and S.E. in sand spits, otherwise showing little or no change. 



Hitadu is a sandy island, more or less triangular in shape, with a narrow base to the S.E. 

 Its southern reef is about 130 yards broad, and there are on it two rocky islands to the S.E. 

 and S.W. The appearance suggests that Hitadu is the remains of a much larger island, almost 

 conterminous with its reef to the S. At present its shores show little signs of washing away, 

 but on the contrarj' it is clear that the pointed N. end of the island has grown out considerably 

 in recent years. Olugeri has a rocky beach everywhere and covers the greater part of its 

 reef ; its vegetation consists of high timber, the abode of the Lesser Frigate Bird, Fregata ariel. 

 Kanifuri I did not visit, but its shore to the S. and S.W. could be seen in passing to be rocky, 

 with bare tree trunks and a little fallen timber. 



At Maduwari (see p. 164, and Fig. 30) I would draw attention to the line of coral rock, 

 protecting the land to the S. and curving round on the reef. The prominent horns of the reef 

 growing out into the passages on either side, together with the lie of the elevated rock, serve admirably 

 to illustrate my contention that the reefs against the passages are growing out to meet one another, 

 ultimately to form a single encircling reef to the bank. 



Kudadu (the E. island on the Kanifuri reef) and Mafliri are both of sand formation. The 

 former has an extensive formation of beach rock to the N., but the latter is only a tiny bank 

 with two buslies of about 20 feet in height. The faro to the 

 north of Mafuri had a large sandy islet, but now has no sign of 

 the same ; its velu, too, is much larger. IVIandu is a regular, 

 sandy islet, little or not at all changed, but the pair of reefs to 

 the S.E. are well marked with large velu and with no ' Sandy 

 Isles ' nor ' Stony Islet.' 



Madu, while mainly a sandy islet, has a broad rocky belt on 

 its S.E. end (Fig. 95). The reef here is about 100 yards broad 

 from the low tide level on the beach to its outer edge. The reef 

 slopes comparatively gradually outside, the sea 40 yards out from 

 its edge being only about 2 fathoms in depth. The reef flat is 

 about 60 yards broad, and there is within it a much broken area 

 covered with large masses of coral rock, which roughly speaking 

 form three lines, a fourth being found in the base of the beach. 

 Other masses also occur where the sliore of the island bends round 

 N. and S. towards the lagoon. The rocks to seaward show that 

 the land once extended to within 30 yards of the present reef 

 edge, so that the outward extension of the latter can have been 

 but very small since the elevation that formed the land. As the 



rock passes into sand round the sides of the island a few lines of beach sandstone run out from 

 the shore, but there is little or no erosion going on at the present time. On the other sides of 

 the island the reef edge is at least 100 yards distant, and has within it a shallow boat channel of 

 1—2 feet. 



Fig. 95. The S.E. end of Madu, 

 showing the lines of coral rock. 



