110 "ALBATROSS" TROPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. 



The atoll of Tekokota is elliptical, somewhat more than a mile in great- 

 est diameter. On the western face off the wooded island the reef flat slopes 

 seaward for a considerable distance, and is well covered with corals. 



Boobies in Rigging. 



Hikueru. 



Plates Ml, 203. 



This is a small atoll running almost east and west, irregularly elliptical, 

 with a comparatively deep lagoon for its size. Its greatest length is about 

 six miles, and three miles in width. The land rim is situated on the north 

 side of the atoll. The southern face is merely a reef flat over which the sea 

 enters into the lagoon, and is forced out again over the northern face of the 

 island. 



Hikueru, seen at a distance from the north side, appears like a series of low 

 disconnected rectangular blocks with rounded edges ; in fact, that is much the 

 appearance of any atoll seen at from six to ten miles off, according to the 

 height of the cocoanuts or of the vegetation growing upon it. The islands 

 are separated by wide open flats. Nautilus are said to live in the lagoon, 

 creeping along the bottom in the sand, and coming to the surface in calm 

 days. 



Near the northwestern point are some large boulders of beach rock 

 conglomerate and of old ledge, the latter undercut and still connected with 

 the old ledge platform forming the outer reef flat. 



