58 "ALBATROSS" TROPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. 



recesses extend at certain levels, indicating probably the position of the 

 former terraces, which can be traced somewhat indistinctly on the eastern 

 face of the island (Pis. 22, fig. 2; 23, 25). On the northwest side these 

 lines of caverns would indicate no less than five terraces or periods of 

 elevation (Pis. 27, 28) ; the caverns of the higher levels having- in their 

 time probably held the same relation to the sea which those at the base 

 of the clifi'(Pls. 22 ; 26, fig. 1 ; 28, fig. 2) hold to the present sea-level. On 

 the northwest face the vertical furrows and great bands of stalactites and 

 lines of caverns (Pis. 23, 27, 28) and of former levels of shore under-cutting 

 are most plainly to be seen along the central and northern part of the north- 

 west side of the island. At the northern point, where the shore platform 

 disappears, the base of the cliffs is deeply undercut (Pis. 22; 26, fig. 1). 



Steaming around the north point, the line of high vertical cliffs is con- 

 tinued along the east face ; they are deeply undercut at the base, with 

 vertical fissures and lines of caverns, only far more prominently marked than 

 those on the northwest side. As we rounded the northern point, we could 

 trace on the east side, as on the west, the extension southward of the slope 

 of the rounded summit towards the northern edge of the sink occupying the 

 central part of the island. The cliffs on the east side are not only higher, 

 but also more uniform in height than on the northwestern face (Pis. 27, 28). 

 The village on the east side (PI. 21, fig. 1) is at the base of a slope formed 

 by the crumbling of the first and second terraces, and at the point where the 

 vertical cliffs are somewhat lower than those to the north and south of the 

 village. At this part of the i.sland there is again a narrow shore platform, 

 which however does not extend far to either side of the village, and dis- 

 appears again. On the face of the vertical cliffs of the east side the lines of 

 four terraces are clearly indicated, and along the slopes of the rounded 

 summit the fifth and perhaps the sixth terrace can be traced. 



The coral sand beach of the west face of the island (Pis. 23-25 ; 26, fig. 2) 

 is about twelve feet high, and the shore platform varies from 200 to 400 

 feet in width, is slightly raised at the outer rim, with deep channels at right 

 angles to the face, extending sometimes from 10 to 30 feet towards the 

 beach, or forming the merest indentations of the raised outer edge of the 

 shore platform. 



