LIKIEB. 313 



from Lado to the north. Much of this shingle, as well as the shingle on 

 the outer beaches of the islands on the northern face of Likieb, is ground 

 into sand. Within the atoll of Likieb, as at Jaluit, sand spits extend 

 from near the sea face of the gaps well into the lagoon. A large amount 

 of sand is blown in towards the lagoon from the sea face of the numerous 

 islands and islets of the western land rim, and finds its way through the 

 gaps separating them, extending into the lagoon in gigantic spurs. These 

 are eventually united from the two sides of the gap, and form a solid bar 

 dii'ectly across the gap on the lagoon side of the islands, leaving a flask- 

 like bay to indicate the position of the former gap. This bay, in its turn, 

 may also be closed by the gradual filling in by the sand blown in from the 

 sea beaches, or by the formation of a dam directly across the sea face of 

 the bight. Thus sinks are formed, separated by islands and islets, which, 

 if they had been connected with the shore of a large island, would present 

 the appearance of the stranded islets we have just described. To the north 

 of Lado this condition of the lagoon face is well seen, and one can follow 

 far to the north spits running out from the gaps on the lagoon side of 

 the reef flat. 



The sand is mainly derived from the pounding up into sand of the coral 

 shingle on the weather side, where masses of beach rock, of coral con- 

 glomerate are constantly thrown up on the outer beaches, as well as of 

 the fragments of the dead corals thrown up on the outer reef flat from 

 the sea slope of the atoll. As the breakers force their way at high tide 

 over the reef flat into the gap, this material is little by little carried 

 further into the lagoon and deposited, until it forms a dam to the very 

 breakers which have built it. As the trades blow incessantly for nine 

 months of the year, we can see how, with the torrential rains occurring 

 in the Marshall Islands, this mass of material is readily decomposed into 

 shingle, then into .sand, and finally into silt. 



In the gap between Likieb and Lado we can trace the formation of 

 the sand flat from the consolidation of the sand spits extending far into the 

 lagoon ; a line of gigantic breakers indicates the position of the outer reef 

 flat connecting the two islands. On this wide reef flat numerous sand bars 

 are thrown up ; they will eventually fill up the wide and shallow bay now 



