20 EXPEDITION OF THE “ALBATROSS,” 1899-1900. 
face of this extensive denudation and erosion, to state positively what 
may be part of the ancient lagoon, or sound, and what has been carried 
away by atmospheric and other agencies since the elevation of the island. 
At the south end of the island, which is lower than the northern part, 
there are only two distinct terraces, while at the northern end four ter- 
races can be traced. The southern extremity, however, is still higher 
than the deepest part of the central sink of the island. 
From Makatea, we visited Niau, Apataki, Tikei, Fakarava, Anaa, 
Tahanea, Raroia, Takume, Taenga, Makemo, Tekokoto, Hikueru, Marokan, 
Hao, Aki-Aki, Nukutavake, going as far east as Pinaki, when we furned 
westward again, to Nukutipipi. 
On arriving at Pinaki we decided to give up the exploration of the 
eastern extremity of the Paumotus, and not to make our contemplated 
visit to the Gambier Islands, our time having been greatly curtailed by 
delays at Fakarava and Makemo, from bad weather and the non-arrival 
of our coal supply. We therefore reluctantly turned westward again and 
made for the Gloucester Islands. These, as well as Hereheretue, proved 
most interesting ; they formed, as it were, an epitome of what we had 
seen on a gigantic scale in the larger atolls of the western and central 
Paumotus. We could see at a glance in such small atolls as Nukutipipi 
and Anu-Anurunga the connection between structural features which, in 
an atoll of forty miles in length and from ten to fifteen miles in width, 
it was often difficult to determine. 
We anchored in Fakarava and Makemo lagoons, spending a number of 
days in both these atolls. We usually timed our visits to the islands 
where we could not anchor so as to spend the day, or the greater part 
of the day, at these atolls, making our passages at night, and sounding 
whenever practicable on the way. 
After leaving Tahiti we made over 100 soundings. These have shown 
in a general way that the western islands are probably all on a great 
plateau connected perhaps by the 800-fathom line; that such islands as 
Anaa are probably on spurs or independent smaller plateaux, separated 
from the main plateau by somewhat deeper water; the same may be the 
condition of Raroia and Takume, and of Hao and Amanu, while such 
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