376 "ALBATROSS" TROPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. 



process identical with that forniing such atolls as Fulanga, Vanua 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 extreiiiity 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 graduall}' 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. 



r.:-.,;.,;X<^;,:vi 



Native Hut, Guam. 



Rota. 



Plates 199; 333; S33, 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 

 rises to about 800 feet, and runs nearly east to west. I was not surprised 



