170 CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. 



miles, and includes hardly six square miles of wooded land. 

 In the Marshall Islands the dry land is not over one-hundredth 

 of the whole surface ; while in the Pescadores the proportion 

 of land to the whole area is about as 1 to 200. 



The distribution of the land upon the reef is obvious from 

 the sketches already given. It is seen, as long since remarked, 



^%^^^%^ 





MENCHICOFF ATOLL. 

 1-20 of an inch to a mile. 



that the windward side is, in general, the highest. It is also 

 apparent that there are not only great irregularities of form, 

 but that on one side the reef may at times be wholly wanting 

 or deeply submerged. 



In many islands there is a ship-entrance through the reef, 

 sometimes six or eight fathoms deep, to the lagoons, where 

 good anchorage may be had; but the larger part have only 

 shallow passages, or none at all. In the Paumotus, out of the 

 twenty-eight visited by the Expedition, not one-half were 

 found to have navigable entrances. In the Carolines, where 

 the islands are large and not so much wooded, entrances are 

 of more common occurrence. About half of the Kingsmill 

 Islands afford a good entrance and safe anchorage. Through 

 these openings in the reefs, there is usually a rapid outward 



