284 CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. 



of the Marshall Islands) there is a lake of* sweet water ; and 

 in Tabual, of the Group Aur, a marshy ground exists. There 

 is no want of fresh water in the larger islands ; it rises in 

 abundance in the pits dug for the purpose." Voyage, Londou, 

 1821, iii. 145. 



The only source of this water is the rains, which, perco- 

 lating through the loose sands, settle upon the hardened 

 coral rock that forms the basis of the island. As the soil is 

 white or nearly so, it receives heat but slowly, and there is 

 consequently but little evaporation of the water that is once 

 absorbed. 



Water is sometimes obtained by making a large cavity in 

 the body of a cocoanut tree, two feet or so from the ground. 

 At the Duke of York's Island, and probably also at the ad- 

 jacent Bowditch Island, this method is put in practice ; the 

 cavities hold five or six gallons of water. 



The tropical birds of the islands are often more in keep- 

 ing with the beautiful scenery about them than the savage in- 

 habitants. On one atoll, — Honden Island, of the Paumotus, 

 — where no natives had ever dwelt — the birds were so inno- 

 cent of fear, that we took them from the trees as we would 

 fruit, and many a songster lost a tail feather, as it sat perched 

 on a branch, apparently unconscious that the world contained 

 an enemy. J. D. Hague gives an account of the birds of Jar- 

 vis's and some other uninhabited islands in the equatorial Pa- 

 cific, in which it appears that, after all, there is evil doing 

 even among tropical birds. He gives the following facts : 



" From fifteen to twenty varieties of birds may be dis- 

 tinguished among those frequenting the islands, of which the 

 principal are Gannets and Boobies, Frigate Birds, Tropic 

 Birds, Tern, Noddies, Petrels, and some game birds, as the 

 Curlew, Snipe and Plover. Of Terns there are several species, 



