94 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



As the formation and growth of coral islands and reefs has been a subject 

 profound euousih to engage the attention of such thinkers as Darwin, Agassiz, 

 Dana. WallMcc. and a score of others, it is small wonder that these coral islands, 

 which t;'em the surface of our summer seas, are invested with vital interest for 

 those who feel a scientific concern in them and who are permitted to study them. 



Ocean Island. 



The leeward chain furnishes interesting examples of the various types of 

 coral islands. Ocean Island, the extreme western end of the Hawaiian chain, 

 lies in 178° 29' 45" west longitude, and 28° 25'' 45" north latitude, and is almost 

 at the antipodes from Greenwich, and, as it lies in the northern limit of the 

 coral belt, it furnishes an excellent example of a circular barrier atoll in mid- 

 ocean. The coral rim surrounds and forms a barrier about four small sand islets 

 and is approximately sixteen miles in circumference. The rim is broken for a 

 mile or more on the western side, but the lagoon enclosed is too shallow to 

 admit the entrance of sea-going ships. Over this low coral rim the curving line 

 of white breakers beat, forming a snowy girdle alwut the low islets that lie pro- 

 tected within. 



;\Iin\VAY ISI,AND. 



Midway Islaiul is fifty-six miles U> Ihc cast of Ocean Island, and, like it, 

 is made up nf a low circular coral I'iui or atoll, six miles in diameter, averaging 

 five feet in height l>y twenty feet in ■,\iilth, which is op( n to the west. Like ()ceaii, 

 it has one fair-sized sand islet and one that is covered with shrubbery. These 

 islets lie ni tlie southern part of the circle, about a mile apai't, and are utilized as 

 stations by the cable company. The coi^al i-iiii encloses an area of about forty 

 square miles of quiet water which attains a depth of eight fathoms. The island 

 was discovered in 1859 by Captain Brooks, who took possession of it for the 

 United States. Attempts to utilize it as a coaling station were abandoned after 

 a single trial ; but in 1902 it was successfully occupied by the cable company, 

 and has since been regularly visited by vessels carrying provisions and supplies.' 



Just prioi- to my visit in 19(t2, which jireceded the arrival of the cable by a 

 few months, the island had been visited and devastated by a party of poachers 

 engaged in securing birds' feathers for millinery purjioses. The dead bodies of 

 thousands of birds, ruthlessly slaughtei-ed by them for their wings and tails, 

 were thickly strewn over both islets. The re])orts made at the time, by the 

 writer, to the State Department and various officials in Washington, was the 

 first step in the long campaign that finally resulted in tlu' establishment of the 

 Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation. 



OaMBIER SllOAI.. 



(iamliicr Slioal is a circular atoll lying about half way between ^Midway and 

 Pearl and Hermes Reef. The latter is an irregular oval atoll, about forty miles 

 in circumference, M-hich encloses a dozen small islets of shifting sand. It was 



