1899] 



FUNAFUTI: THE STUDY OF A CORAL ATOLL 



27 



and vauisli into holes with mysterious suddenness. It is at night that 

 these are most active, when they dig deep burrows in the sand, casting 

 up conical hillocks at the entrance nearly a foot high, which give the 

 beach the appearance of a miniature encampment. The sand is the 

 famous " coral " sand ; but on picking up a handful for nearer inspec- 

 tion we are surprised to find that it contains scarcely any coral ; and 

 so far from consisting of detrital material, it is almost entirely com- 

 posed of the shells of Foraminifera, two species predominating, Tin- 

 oporus haculatus and Orhitolitcs complanata. From specimens collected 

 on other atolls by the late Professor Moseley, and preserved in the 

 University Museum at Oxford, it would appear that the sand at Funafuti 



Fig. 6. — The Site of the First Boring, with Derrick and Machinery. 



is by no means singular in this respect, and the term " coral " sand is 

 only another instance of the " lucus a non." 



The lagoon beach ends in a tiny cliff about a foot in height, 1 to 

 the very edge of which sparse turf and vegetation of a larger growth 

 extends ; the land to which this cliff is boundary consists chiefly 

 of small fragments of coral and shells of Foraminifera ; it rises a little 

 so as to attain a maximum height of 3 or 4 feet above high-water 

 mark. In breadth it varies considerably, and where broadest the 

 native village stands, with the church, large enough to contain the whole 

 population, all church-goers, the school, mission-house, and palace. 

 A row of graves, made tomb-like with slabs of coral, runs down the 

 middle of the main street, The whole of this sandy fiat is covered 



1 This applies to that part of the islet on which our house was built : in some places 

 more considerable cliffs are nut with, c.rj. on one of the northern islets of Funafuti called 

 Amatupu, where a conglomerate of coral pebbles forms steep faces some six feet or more in 

 height. 



