AGASSIZ: FIJI ISLANDS AND CORAL REEFS. 19 
indistinct lagoon called Stone Axe Roads. The northeastern extension 
of the east coast fringing reef forms an open roadstead. This spur is 
covered with magnificient patches of coral in from one to three fathoms. 
One can trace from the long line of lava negro-heads — some of these are 
quite large — covering the reef flats, the former northern extension of 
the island. We could also trace to the south the low bluffs from the 
erosion of which have been formed the flats upon which the fringing reef 
has found a footing. A very strong current was flowing over the spur of 
Nathomaki Point, driven westward by the easterly trades. 
The principal ridge of the island runs transversely across it from the 
southern point to its northeastern end. Its highest point is over 1,800 
feet. ‘The faces of the island are furrowed by deep valleys. 
Mbatiki. 
Plate 12. 
We did not land on Mbatiki, but steamed close enough to the shores 
to obtain some idea of its characteristic features. The highest peak on 
the northern side is a little over 600 feet. There are two deep indenta- 
tions, one on the west, the other on the south side. It is surrounded by 
a shore fringing reef from three points of which spurs extend parallel to 
the shore, impounding three narrow shallow lagoons with a depth of 
from three to five fathoms. The lagoons are full of coral heads. There 
are boat passes into two of the lagoons. The island is of volcanic 
origin. 
Moala. 
Plates 16, 57. 
Moala is an island of volcanic origin, triangular in form, the eastern 
face indented by a deep bay, fully two miles long, by about three 
fourths of a mile in width, with sixteen fathoms in greatest depth. The 
highest point of Moala is over fifteen hundred feet. The ridges sur- 
rounding the deep bay have the appearance of being the rim of an 
extinct crater (Plate 57), broken to the eastward, some points of which 
rise from over twelve hundred to over fourteen hundred feet, the bay 
forming the bottom of the extinct crater. 
The western part of the north coast is edged by a fringing reef extend- 
ing nearly a mile off shore ; towards the east the fringing reef proper 
becomes quite narrow, while disconnected coral patches of considerable 
