OTHER ATOLLS. 419 



atoll very much diffused over the flat, which nowhere at low tide has more than a foot of water. 

 The extraordinary point about this reef is the presence of seven small uncharted islands between 

 Faidu and Gan and the seaward edge of the reef. The first of these is a small stony islet just 

 inside the boulder zone opposite the centre of Gan. Then there is a sand-bank in the corresponding 

 position off the W. end of Gan. On the seaward side of the E. end of Faidu there is a good 

 deal of fallen timber, showing washing away, and between the island and the boulder zone are 

 no less than 15 masses of rock on the reef. Off the centre of Faidu, and opposite the passage 

 between Faidu and Maradu, was a large coconut-covered island, with outside it three smaller islets 

 covered with low bushes, an additional stone bank with a few shrubs lying to the N. 



It is important to consider the formation of these additional islands, all of which at some 

 point touch the boulder zone. Unfortunately I was unable to visit them, but they certainly 

 seemed to have been formed of loose boulders and sand, piled up by the waves. I cannot by 

 the study of the chart bring myself to believe or imagine that these islands may have been 

 formed by the washing away of the land behind them, nor that they can have existed when 

 the chart was made. I think it is more than probable that the land behind them has washed 

 away somewhat since 1835, but of any considerable action there are no traces, such as would be 

 bound to be left on the reef if these islets had been formed in this way. It is most remarkable 

 that this fresh formation of land should have occurred on this area alone in the atoll, the action 

 being evidently purely local and isolated. Considering the whole formation, I am driven to the 

 perhaps rather lame conclusion that the physical conditions in the S.W. of the atoll differ from 

 those in other parts sufficiently to have in the first place produced a broad reef-flat, largely by 

 the washing away of the land, which loss is now being repaired by the formation of a fresh 

 series of islands along the boulder zone of the reef. This of course suggests a possible fresh origin 

 for kuli, but those of the E. rim were certainly not formed in this manner. 



XII. Other Atolls. 



I only caught a fleeting glance of the south-east rim reefs of Ari atoll, but from native 

 accounts I have no doubt but that the bank closely resembles the two Nilandu atolls. We 

 anchored for one night to the south of Mahiaddu (lat. 3° 46' N.) in the entrance to the 

 broad passage of which we found two shoal patches growing up, with respectively 3 and 

 5 fathoms. 



Wattaru atoll . differs in no respect from the chart, save that there are now islands with 

 coconut-trees on either side both east and west of its single channel to the south. According 

 to native accounts Fua-Mulaku has a pool or kuli of fresh water in the centre with strange 

 fish, and the lagoon of Makunadu is said to be both considerably larger and deeper than 

 appears in its chart. Toddu, Karidu, Alifuri, Tiladumati, and Ihavandifolu were not visited 

 either by my companion or myself. They are extremely unlikely, however, to present any 

 points of interest, except perhaps in their outer slopes, that have not already been considered 

 in other atolls. 



G. 54 



