388 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



ful blessing, developed a taste for alcohol, and caused 

 trouble among the natives because be fancied tbey were 

 not treating bim with sufficient consideration. 



A small cbart, in tbe corner of Chart 1, gives an idea 

 of the ship's course through the group. 1 The archipel- 

 ago consists of a chain of atolls, which is double along 

 its central portion, and extends from Lat. 7 N. to about 

 fifty miles south of the Equator. The group is said 

 to contain 10,000 islands, though this is probably an 

 exaggeration. A glance at the diagram, on the opposite 

 page, of a so-called composite atoll of the region will 

 show that navigation through such lagoons is by no 

 means easy. A good deal of planning was necessary to 

 lay out the voyage to advantage. In order to explore a 

 lagoon, the sun must be in certain positions to detect 

 the shoals from the color of the water. One cannot 

 steam east in the morning or west in the afternoon. 

 To take photographs successfully the eastern face of 

 an atoll must be explored in the morning and the 

 western in the afternoon. Finally the programme must 

 be so arranged as to reach an anchorage before sunset, 

 so selected that the sun will be in a favorable position 

 the next morning to continue observations without loss 

 of time. 



The inhabitants of the Maldives are all Mohamme- 

 dans ; it was the season of the Ramadan, but no religious 

 austerities could greatly interfere with such a wonderful 

 event as the arrival of a European steamer : indeed, in 

 some of the islands at which they touched the natives 

 had never seen a white man. Everywhere the explorers 

 were received with friendly curiosity by the men, who, 



1 This chart is of earlier date than the larger scale charts used on the 

 expedition, and the spelling of most of the names is different. 



