WOTJE. 319 



conglomerate is finer, containing many amygdules, and made up of small 

 fragments of corals. The large coral masses on the sea face of the reef 

 flat, the outliers of beach rock conglomerate, and the fragments of corals 

 thrown over the sea beach inland are honeycombed and pitted, and 

 much weathered. 



As we left our anchorage, we could trace on the northern extension of 

 the west face of the eastern land rim the successive sand spits projecting 

 out from the lagoon side of the land rim, and forming a series of bays 

 on the inner side of the atoll, far larger and more distinct than those we 

 have described as existing on the outer sea face of the south shore. Both, 

 however, are formed by the same agencies. On the east face the sand from 

 the sea beaches is blown bj' the trades into the lagoon between the sides 

 of the gaps, and the gap may be closed by the extension of the shingle 

 beaches on the sea face of the islands on the two sides of the gap (PI. 179, 

 fig. 2) ; on the south side of the lagoon the sand forming the spits extend- 

 ing to the sea face on the outer reef flat comes from the lagoon sand beach. 

 The sand beach or dam thrown up across the lagoon face of the bay is due 

 to the reach of the trades in the lagoon itself (PI. 179) ; but the result 

 is the same. In each case the gaps of the land rim are closed by sand 

 blown in from the outer or inner beaches of the land rim. 



It is probable that the line of sinks we have described on Wotje are 

 evidences of gullies and gaps once separating islets on the lagoon face 

 of the land rim, gaps which have gradually been closed by a process 

 similar to that which has connected the independent islands and islets 

 forming the outer land rim of Wotje. If we imagine the result of the 

 consolidation of the double or treble row of islands blocking such a gap 

 as Schischmarev Pass (PI. 180, fig. 2), we see that the resultant would 

 form a line of sinks and reaches and of gaps similar to those we observed 

 while crossing Wotje from the lagoon side to the sea face. 



To account for the existence of islands increasing in size at both extremi- 

 ties, such as form the land rim of the Marshall Island atolls, we assume 

 that the base upon which the loose material of w^hich they are built is 

 moved must be either stationary or have been elevated. There is not 

 sufficient new material supplied from the growth of corals to build up 



