82 Director' s Annual Report. 



Island). In that year a wooden monument (Fig. i) which set 

 forth Japan's claim was ere(5led on the south lieach. 



On the other hand Captain Rosehill, a citizen of the United 

 States, while engaged in trading in the Pacific, landed on the 

 island in June, 1S89, with a view of ascertaining its value as a 

 coconut island, and believing himself to be the first person to set 

 foot on its soil, or at least that it had never been taken or occupied 

 "by any Government or individual, he claimed it for the United 

 States. Since that time he had been engaged in making a satis- 

 fac^tor}- proof of his claims and organizing the present expedition 

 to investigate its guano deposits. Later, the Japanese Government 

 (I understand) has relinquished all claims to the island and it may 

 now be regarded as undisputed American territory. 



Learning of Captain Rosehill's intended visit, the Japanese 

 Government despatched a cruiser to the island and left a naval 

 officer and a party of marines in control. It was owing to the mili- 

 tary regulations imposed by them that the work of our party was 

 so materially hampered, and that the period of our stay was made 

 much too brief to accomplish as exhaustive an investigation as had 

 been originally planned. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The geographical position of Marcus Island has been touched 

 upon under a previous head ; it therefore remains to consider its 

 strucfture and physical features before attempting to draw conclu- 

 sions concerning its geological history. 



On approaching the island from the sea in a small boat, one is 

 attracted by the intense blue of the ocean washing the growing 

 reef on every side. The reef itself is of the common form fringing 

 almost all coral islands of this class in the Pacific. Its outer face, 

 though jagged and broken, seldom gives way to form a channel 

 of sufficient width and depth to admit of a small boat passing 

 through at low tide ; in fact only two such places were found by our 

 crew: one, the first point from which we effecfted a landing, about 

 a third of the distance from the southwest point on the northwest 

 side of the island ; the other, about a quarter of the distance from 

 the same point on the southern side. This latter, by no means a 

 safe passage for a whale boat, is the principal opening and the one 

 made use of by the Japanese in landing their supplies and shipping 

 the fertilizer and bird skins secured by them. The time at my 



