354 THE CORAL LANDS Of THE PACIFIC. 



court, built up against the inside of the outer walls, is a terrace 

 8 feet high and 12 feet in width, also built of basaltic prisms. 

 The whole of this court is not visible at once, owing to the 

 dense vegetation ; but on clambering about among trunks and 

 creepers, it is found to be nearly square, and to be divided into 

 three parts by low walls running north and south. In the 

 centre of each of these courts stands a closed chamber 14 feet 

 square, also built of basaltic columns, and roofed over with the 

 same, not very closely laid. The walls at the base, including 

 the terrace, are 20 feet thick, and above it 8 feet ; and some of 

 the stones, especially those in the front wall near the gateway, 

 are 25 feet long and 8 feet in circumference.' 



Pearl-shell of great size and fine quality is found here, which, 

 with copra, cocoa-nut oil, fungus, and Mche-de-mer, form the chief 

 exports ; but the riches of Ascension cannot be fully stated 

 without incurring the suspicion attaching to a traveller's tale. 

 When Great Britain takes her proper position as a competitor 

 for the trade of ' Coral Lands,' they will be fully realised. 



Westward of Ascension is the great atoll of Hogoleu. This 

 consists of a vast lagoon somewhere about 300 miles in circuit, 

 which has three main channels of entrance, safe at all times for 

 the largest ships. Within the lagoon are four great islands, 

 each from 20 to 35 miles in circumference, and more than 

 twenty smaller uninhabited cays, covered with cocoa-nut and 

 other trees. There is skill water and good anchorage every- 

 where within the outer reef. 



The inhabitants of Hogoleu have been accused of treachery 

 and ferocity ; certain it is that they have attacked becalmed 

 vessels, and massacred their crews without any apparent 

 reason. I think I can give a clue to the mystery. In 1793 

 the English ship Antelope was wrecked on the Palaos Islands. 

 The islanders treated the shipwrecked mariners with hospitality 



