460 Mr Gardiner, The Coral Reefs of [Mar. 7, 



extends between the islands, except at the ship's passage, and is 

 very broad. At low tide a few boulders can be seen on the outer 

 edge, especially off the north of the island ; all are small, and . 

 could have been thrown up, as they doubtlessly were, by strong 

 gales. The 100 fathom line is extremely close to the reef, follow- 

 ing the contour of the land ; on the north and south it is noticeably 

 nearer than to the east and west, being off Quoin Hill almost 

 contiguous with the outer edge of the reef. 



About 5 miles to the east of Fulanga lie the reefs surrounding 

 the two islands, Ongea Levu to the north and Ongea Ndriki to 

 the south. Both in the nature of their rock are of a similar 

 character to Fulanga and resemble it further in each having 

 a small lagoon. Ongea Levu is 4 miles long by 2 broad, lying 

 almost north and south ; it is surrounded by a ridge with 

 precipitous overhanging cliffs on the outward side, which are not 

 generally as high as those of Fulanga. Southward this range is 

 broken, where the water of the lagoonlet joins with that of the 

 lagoon of the barrier reef; a number of islets, however, in two 

 lines join it across, and make the ring complete. These latter 

 range up to about 80 feet, while the ridge is about 200 feet high 

 with a hill northwards of 270 feet. These rocks across the entrance 

 of the lagoonlet present the same characters as those within the 

 lagoon at Fulanga ; one shows at low tide an arch in the centre, 

 where the middle has been washed away. Near these the lagoon- 

 let is about 5 fathoms deep, but northwards it gradually shoals, 

 uncovering at low tide a reef about 200 yards across ; this merges 

 into a sand flat, from which the land rises to the ridge, as at Fulanga. 



Ongea Ndriki resembles the last island, except that it is 

 smaller, more circular in. shape and rather higher; the ridge 

 is open northwards, opposite the break in that of Ongea Levu. 

 These breaks in the ridges of the two islands are so strongly 

 joined by isolated rocks, and the ridges themselves bend so 

 markedly towards them, that the two islands seem always to have 

 been completely separated. 



South of Ongea Ndriki the reef fringes, while it contains on 

 the other sides, as a barrier round the two islands, distant 1 — 2 

 miles; it has four passages, one to the north and three to the west 

 opposite the channel between the two islands. The depth of the 

 lagoon is from 4 fathoms between the islands to 13 fathoms out- 

 side them, with a bottom of fine muddy sand and few shoals ; the 

 depth of the largest western passage is 13 fathoms and the 

 strength of the tide through it is 2 — 3 knots. The water was very 

 distinctly milky at the ebb tide, forming a well-defined streak in 

 the sea outside. North-east of the barrier is a small reef, Thakau 

 Teteika, a few hundred yards away, with a channel between of 

 over 100 fathoms. 



