Notices of Memoirs — C. W. Andretcs — On CJiridmas Iskmd. 23 



inland cliff to the sea-cliff, which is from 15 to 30 or more feet high, 

 and is often undercut by the waves to a remarkable extent, so that 

 it sometimes overhangs more than 20 feet. The inland side of this 

 terrace is often covered with pinnacles of rock similar to that 

 of the cliff above, and once formed part of the foreshore planed 

 down by the waves. Near the sea the terrace is clearly a raised 

 fringing reef resting on a foundation of talus ; the corals are often 

 very fresh in appearance. In some localities this platform has 

 been cut into the older rocks (orbitoidal limestones, basalts, etc.) 

 which form the basis of the island, and in such places small 

 streams may occur, the water being held up by the volcanic rocks. 

 The point where these are best developed is on the east coast, 

 where there are two or three muddy brooks and a small fall of 

 excellent water, which gushes out over a bed of basalt just above 

 high- water mark. 



On the south, where the cliffs are exposed to the full force of the 

 swell produced by the south-east trade wind, which blows most of 

 the year, the coast scenery is very fine. The cliffs are cut into- 

 numberless narrow inlets, and their summits are often completely 

 bare of vegetation for some distance from the sea. Blowholes are 

 very numerous, and several columns of spray rising high above the 

 trees may often be seen at once. 



At various points round the coast there are shingle beaches. The 

 most important of these are that in Flying Fish Cove and West 

 White Beach, at both of which landing is fairly easy. There are 

 also two or three others on the north coast, several on the east, 

 and one or two towards the northern part of the west coast ; most 

 of these are small and shut in by cliff, and are covered at high- water. 



The above is a brief account of the usual plan of the island, but 

 there are several localities in which considerable divergences from 

 this occur. One of these is Steep Point, where a deep fissure, 

 forming a narrow valley, has cut off an angle of the first inland 

 cliff, and the portion thus isolated has tilted forward so that the 

 usual shore platform, if it ever existed, has been carried beneath 

 the sea, and the headland, which is 150 to 200 feet high, is, in fact, 

 part of the first inland cliff. 



Again, on the east coast, near North-East Point, extensive slips or 

 faults have taken place, the result being that the ordinary terraces 

 are replaced by a single precipice 500 to 600 feet high, the foot of 

 which is covered by talus of enormous blocks of limestone. In this 

 case the edge of the island as far back as the second inland cliff 

 has slipped down beneath the sea, and has helped to build up the 

 foundation upon which the reefs now forming the shore terrace were 

 built. Nearer North-East Point the slip was less extensive, and tlie 

 slipped mass here forms the first inland cliff, on the top of which 

 there are several step-like ridges running parallel to its edge, and 

 marking minor dislocations. The rock comprising both this cliff 

 and the precipice further south seems to be almost wholly a mass 

 of orbitoidal limestone, the flat joint faces of which give it a very 



