92 



Director's Ainiual Report. 



alluvial earth. We may conclude that the first stage of formation 

 must ha\-e been, geographically speaking, comparatively brief, 

 judging from the shallow deposits here found. Looking elsewhere 

 for confirmative evidence \\\y attention was directed to the con- 

 ditions existing in the salt water well. It had been sunk int-o a 



Fig. 5. View at north point, .seventy feet above sea level. Showing the surface of the island 

 at the highest point, the character of the foliage, and wreckage from a Japanese boat. 



concrete of coral shingle for the la.st five feet, which had unmistak- 

 ably been formed under water. Again, mention has been made of 

 the expo,sed table of coral shingle rock which had been uncovered 

 immediately in front of the settlement during the period of a recent 

 storm. This rock, like that in the well, showed every evidence of 

 having an aqueous origin, and the peculiar stru(5lure of the rock 

 laid down by the acftion of the waves in shallow water. I conclude 

 that this mu.st have been an old shore line, most probably corre- 

 sponding to the one first made when the lagoon was formed. 



