FLAT ISLAND. 271 
afternoon we found ourselves near the little 
island lying off the north-west point of Olajava, 
called by La Pérouse the Flat Island. A hill 
situated in its centre has, in fact, a flat surface, 
which La Pérouse, at a distance of thirty miles, 
mistook for the whole island, because the low 
land which surrounds it was not within the com- 
pass of his horizon. 
For the same reason he could not observe 
that the eastern part of this island is connected 
with the western coast of Olajava by two reefs 
forming a basin, in the middle of which is a small 
rock. If these be indeed coral reefs, which they 
certainly resemble, they are the only ones I have 
remarked in the Navigators’ Islands. 
The Flat Island, which, for the reason above 
mentioned, occupies a much larger space on our 
map than on that of La Pérouse, is entirely 
overgrown with wood, and has a very pleasant 
appearance. At alittle distance from this, to 
the north-west, another little island, which does 
not appear to have been observed by that Voy- 
ager, rises perpendicularly from the sea. Its 
sloping back is crested with a row of cocoa- 
trees so regularly arranged, that it is difficult 
to conceive them planted by the unassisted hand 
