550 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



not easy to conjecture. The islets are here very numer- 

 ous and closely approximated, and over a large area 

 these have been built up in their entire circumference with 

 high sea-walls composed of natural basaltic prisms of large 

 size. The effect produced is that of a vast series of 

 canals- — " a Pacific Venice," as it has been termed by a 

 traveller. These canals vary in width from 30 to 100 

 feet or more, and it is worthy of note that the walls, in 

 many cases, have their bases submerged to some little 

 depth — a fact which has led some observers to the not 

 very certain conclusion that the land has sunk since 

 their erection. On many of the islets raised platforms 

 constructed of the same materials are to be seen. 



The main building above mentioned demands separate 

 consideration. It has been well described in his Atolls 

 and Islands by Mr. F. J. Moss, who gives a ground-plan 

 of it with measurements and a photograph of a portion 

 of the wall. It may be roughly described as a massive 

 fjuadrangle with sides about 200 feet in length, within 

 which is another of smaller area, centrally placed, and 

 enclosing in its turn a covered vault, behind which is 

 erected a raised platform. The walls both of the outer 

 and inner courts are provided with a western entrance 

 15 feet in width, and there are three other vaults placed 

 between the outer and inner walls on the north, east, and 

 south sides respectiA^ely. The walls of both the quad- 

 rangles are about 20 feet high, but while those of the 

 inner have a uniform thickness of 10 feet, those of the 

 outer are 18 feet thick at the base and only 8 feet in 

 their upper part, so that a sort of terrace 1 feet wide is 

 formed, which runs round the entire inner side at about 

 6 feet from the ground. The material of which these 

 walls are composed is the same as that of those forming 

 the canals, namely, natural basaltic prisms, without mortar. 



