xxii INTRODUCTION 



The human story of the settlement is also ripe for 

 chronicling, for much of the story of the Clunies-Ross family 

 is forgotten, and my fortunate access to the journal of the 

 Pioneer justifies the recording of this romantic story in its 

 complete form. 



With regard to the atoll itself, and the problems with 

 which its origin and its physical conditions are surrounded, 

 this human story is of importance, for three generations of 

 observant men have watched its changes and marked the 

 tendencies of its physical history. 



I have endeavoured throughout this book to keep separate 

 the observations I recorded in the atoll and the inferences 

 which I drew from them ; and this for the reason that, should 

 the inferences prove ultimately to be incorrect, the observations 

 may still stand as an index of the state of the atoll which may 

 be of use to any subsequent investigator. 



The record of the cyclones that have wrought havoc in 

 the atoll has been given in the chapter dealing with the 

 meteorological observations, but I regret that the story of 

 their destruction, as told there, is not complete. On November 

 27, 1909, a cyclone, unprecedented in violence, swept over the 

 group. The damage wrought in a few hours of storm is 

 most vividly described in the Governor's own words : 



"The barometer fell as low as 2 7' 9 2 — lower than I have 

 ever known it fall before. We knew the day before that we 

 were sure to have a very heavy storm, and we worked all day 

 to secure and prepare for it ; but unfortunately the whole of the 

 preparations came to naught. At about six o'clock in the 

 evening the cyclone was on top of us, and by eleven o'clock that 

 night the centre passed over our islands. After that we had 

 a lull for about half an hour, and then came the final blast, 

 which carried away and finished everything. Scarcely a single 

 thing withstood its fury. The cyclone was accompanied by 

 great waves (sea- water, carrying sand with it, passed through 

 the tower of my house, which is fifty feet high), and these 

 Avaves left hardly anything standing. The whole of the 

 villages, as well as the working sheds and stores, were levelled 



