184 COBAL AND ATOLLS 



Tikus, the complete mixing takes, at the fastest, a period of 

 many days. In the larger and more consolidated islands, 

 where the building up of the land level has advanced further, 

 this subsoil water exists as a large pool on the breccia basis, 

 and is only displaced by the movements of the tide water. A 

 very prolonged drought would no doubt affect all the wells of 

 the atoll in time ; but so large is the accumulation of subsoil 

 water that forty tons a day could be taken from a well in Pulu 

 Selma for the Australian horse ships, without affecting the 

 quality of the water, if the well were given a rest of an hour 

 in the middle of the day. No restrictions of any kind are 

 placed upon the using of the well water by the natives of Pulu 

 Selma, and domestic water for cooking, washing, and bathing, 

 as well as water for their gardens and industries, is taken 

 freely from these wells ; and yet, even in the prolonged drought 

 of 1905-6, the water very fairly retained its freshness. The 

 water found in Pulu Luar is the best well water in the group, 

 and is that used by the Boss family for drinking purposes. 

 Under no conditions does it ever become brackish, doubtless 

 because its use is restricted, and the well is situated in the 

 centre of the island, and therefore far from the sea. The water 

 of Pulu Selma has a degree of hardness that makes it difficult 

 to lather with ordinary soaps, though with the island soap, 

 made from coconut oil, it always lathers freely : — with this 

 soap, however, sea water can be used for washing purposes. 



The finding of fresh water in wells dug on coral islands is a 

 common thing, and in the low islands of the Pacific and in the 

 West Indies these wells are made by the natives ; but the water 

 is apt to be scant and brackish, and this atoll is somewhat 

 unusually favoured. 



The reason for the constant freshness of the wells is, of 

 course, the heavy annual rainfall, and the yearly seventy inches 

 does away with any necessity to collect water in holes in coco- 

 nut palms, or to regard water as a great luxury, as is the case 

 in some low islands. But on such of the islands as Pulu Tikus, 

 where no wells can be made, all the water must be condensed 

 for drinking, and collected from the roofs for domestic purposes. 



