198 CORAL AND ATOLLS 



and have, on calm days, taken a small boat round the seaward 

 side of Pulu Tikiis. These beds of coral outside the laofoon 

 are the sites of the most luxurious coral growth to be seen 

 anywhere in the atoll; and Pontes grow in colonies whose 

 size is not approached by any in the lagoon, or on the barrier. 

 It is well known to sailors that from some lagoons the 

 water issues, at the falling of the tide, with such force that the 

 passage of a ship into the entrance may be an impossibility. 

 Although there is no tide rip from this lagoon which offers any 

 serious obstacle to navigation, still a strong current is always 

 running out of the lagoon, past the west end of Pulu Tikus, to 

 impinge on the southern and eastern shores of Pulu Luar. 

 The gaps in the island ring that lie to the south and east are 

 inlets for the Trade-driven ocean ; in the run between Pulu 

 Tikus and Pulu Pasir the set is always lagoon wards, whatever 

 the state of the tide. As a consequence of this, all the flotsam 

 from the lagoon shores of the inhabited islands is swept away 

 towards the mouth of the lagoon, and it is the well-justified 

 island custom when anything has gone adrift to look for it first 

 on the shores of Pulu Luar. With the rarer westerly winds the 

 opposite effect is produced, and a strong current running into 

 the entrance of the lagoon is brought about ; the waters of the 

 lagoon become banked up, and much destruction of the sandy 

 beaches usually takes place. The wind-driven lagoon water 

 becomes raised above its normal level, sand is swept away, and 

 the old barrier stratum exposed ; trees are undermined, and 

 bushes uprooted ; and did a visitor spend only a few days in 

 the atoll, after the coming of a strong westerly wind, he would 

 surely give the world his certain conviction that the sea was 

 rapidly encroaching on the land. In this way, I feel sure, 

 arise some of the conflicting opinions of men who spend but a few 

 days or hours in an atoll ; for the visit may chance to be made 

 after a period of denudation by one wind, or after a period of 

 sand accumulation caused by the antagonistic wind. Were 

 the length of the stay to be measured by months or 

 years, the visitor would see the banks come back : the 

 ancient barrier stratum covered asfain with a thick bed of 



