376 



"ALHATROSS" TROPICAL PACIFir EXPEDITIOX. 



process identical with that forming such atolls as Fulanga, V'anua Mbalavu, 

 or Mbengha, in Fiji. The result would be a gigantic atoll, shaped somewhat 

 like Wotje in the Marshall Islands ; it would pass through a series of" stages, 

 each one of which is represented in some atoll at Fiji. A huge sink may 

 first have formed in the northern extremity of Guam ; the bays edging the 

 coast may have been extended inland until they reached the sink. The 

 sea would then rapidly open a sound or a series of sounds in the interior 

 of Guam; these sounds might be separated by ridges or lines of islands, and 

 while these changes were going on, the outer edge would gradually be re- 

 duced to a low limestone belt enclosing the sounds or cut into a series of 

 islands, with a huge volcanic nucleus at the southern extremity. Finally, 

 a gigantic atoll would be made by these successive changes, but one in the 

 formation of which subsidence played no part. 



Nativk Hut, Guam. 



Rota. 



Plates 199; 232; 238, fig. 5. 



To the northeast of Guam lies the island of Rota (PI. 232); it is about 

 twelve miles in length, and has a greatest width of perhaps five miles; it 

 ri.ses to about 800 feet, and runs nearlv east to west. I was not surprised 



