NIUE. 171 



NIUE. 



Plates 106, figs. '2,3; 107-110 ; Ml; 212, fig. 1 ; 213. 



The island of Niue ^ is about thirty miles in circumference (PI. 212, 

 fig. 1). It is surrounded only here and there by a steep fringing reef, 

 forming a narrow shelf on the western and southern sides of the island. 

 The cliffs on the eastern side run nearly vertically into the sea. The 

 highest point of the island is from 200 to 230 feet above the level of the 

 sea, forming a plateau that slopes gradually from the eastern side towards 

 the western shore. The terraces are clearly indicated near the landing- 

 place off Alofi, the village on the central part of the west shore (PI. 107, 

 fig. 1), and on the cliffs themselves, from the position of the lines of caverns 

 indicating the former lines of sea level on the west face (Pis. 109, 110). 

 In many places they disappear completely, the limestone cliffs rising verti- 

 cally from the sea, and cutting into the second or even the third terrace. 

 Deep cuts or incipient canons are formed all along the east and west shore 

 of Niue (Pis. 106, fig. 3 ; 108, 109), but are especially numerous on the west 

 shore, forming deep, narrow valleys or gorges, penetrating often a consid- 

 erable distance inland. 



The outline of Niue is irregularly octagonal (PL 212, fig. 1), its greatest 

 length from north to south being about thirteen miles, and its greatest 

 width about ten, from east to west across the southern end. As seen from 

 the sea approaching from the eastward, the east shore appears like a narrow 

 slope leading to a level top slightly sloping westward. 



The two terraces above the undercut part of the cliffs consist probably 

 of several lines of rest ; they stand out boldly and are plainly visible two 

 miles off (Pis. 106, fig. 3; 107, fig. 1). The slope between them is thickly 

 covered with trees, and the island is well wooded (PI. 106, fig. 2). A heavy 

 surf pounds against the walls of the lower terrace, which at many points 

 has been changed into vertical cliffs cut back so as to include the second 

 and sometimes the third terrace, which is frequently gouged out into deep 



^ Niue (A. Chart 1 1 76) is an isolated, peak of coralliferous limestone, about 250 miles east of Vavau 

 in the Tonga Islands, rising from deep water ; soundings of nearly 2900 fathoms separate it from Aitutaki, 

 and of over 3000 fathoms from the northern part of the Tonga Islands, 



