280 " ALBATROSS " TROPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. 



Some of the islands on the east face, like Medjado, Emidj, and others, 

 near East Cape, are of considerable length, being over three miles, but 

 all are exceedingly narrow, slender threads of land, forming a land rim 

 flanked on the sea face by high shingle beaches, on the lagoon face by sandy 

 beaches and spits which project out on the lagoon flat of the atoll (PI. 162, 

 fig. 2). Many boat passages exist between the islands and islets, both on 

 the western and on the eastern faces. There are three main ship channels, 

 the southeastern (PL 161, fig. 2), the northeastern (PI. 162, fig. 2), and the 

 southwestern passage (PL 163, figs. 1, 2), all in the southern half of the 

 atoll (PL 226, fig. 6), and deep enough to allow large ships to enter the 

 lagoon. Over the whole lagoon are scattered numerous flats and coral 

 patches. These, however, are most extensively developed on the flats of 

 the lagoon side in the vicinity of the ship passages which extend from two 

 to three miles out into the lagoon (PL 226, fig. 6) ; the flats are formed by 

 the sand which blows in from the sea face of the ship passages and has 

 gradually extended the land rim as gigantic spits into the lagoon. In fact 

 the flats flanking the ship passages represent, on a large scale, the spits 

 found on the lagoon side of the smaller gaps between the islets and sand 

 bars of land rims not only in the Marshall Islands, but also in the Ellice 

 and Gilbert groups. 



It will be noticed that at Jaliiit the greatest area of land is on the 

 weather face of the atoll (PL 226, fig. 6). The entrance into Jaluit Harbor 

 (PL 228, fig. 2) was surveyed by the officers of the " Albatross " ; their survey 

 shows clearly the peculiar sand flats and sand bars which have been thrown 

 up by the currents and by the trades on the lagoon face of the northern and 

 the southern side of the entrance into Jaluit. The average depth of the 

 lagoon is from ten to fifteen fathoms, tliough there are large stretches of 

 the lagoon where the depth varies from twenty to twenty-five fathoms. 

 The southwestern face of Jaluit (PL 226, fig. 6), between Pinglapp 

 Island, the western horn of the atoll, and the south jwint is flanked 

 by a submerged reef flat as far as the southwest pass, and beyond by a 

 narrow land rim with islands and islets (PL 163, figs. 1-3), much as 

 is the eastern face. 



The islands are flanked by low coral shingle beaches, alternating with 



