306 CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. 



and living corals were the most remarkable seen by the author 

 in the Pacific. 



North of the Feejees are numerous islands leading up to 

 the Carolines. They are all of coral, excepting Rotuma, 

 Home and Wallis's Islands, which are high, and have fringing 

 or barrier reefs. The reefs of Wallis's Island are very exten- 

 sive. 



The Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands, the Marshall Islands, 

 and the Carolines, about eighty in number, are all atolls, ex- 

 cepting the three Carolines, Ponape (Pouynipete of Lutke), 

 Kusaie (or Ualan), and Truk (or Hogoleu). Between Ponape 

 and Ualan, the McAskill Islands, three in number, are of 

 coral, but 60 to 100 feet high (Miss. Herald, 1856, p. 193). 



The westernmost of the Sandwich Islands, Kauai and 

 Oahu, have fringing reefs, while eastern Maui and the island 

 of Hawaii have but few traces of corals. On Hawaii, the 

 only spot of reef seen by us, was a submerged patch ofF the 

 southern cape of Hilo Bay. We have already attributed the 

 absence of corals to the volcanic character of the island. The 

 small islands to the northwest of Kauai, are represented as 

 coral reefs, excepting the rocks Necker and Bird Island ; the 

 line stretches on to 28° 30' N., the northern limit of the coral 

 seas. LisiansJctfs Voyage, 1803-6, in the Neva, 4to., Lon- 

 don, 1814, pp. 254, 256, contains an account of some of these 

 islands ; also the Haivaian Spectator, vol. L ; and also a Re- 

 port to the U. S. Bureau of Navigation, December, 1867, by 

 Capt. Wm. Reynolds, U. S. N, partially reproduced in the 

 American Journal of Science for 1871, vol. ii., p. 380. 



The Ladrones, like the Hawaian Group, constitute a line 

 or linear series of islands, one end of which has been long 

 free from volcanic action, while the other has still its smok- 

 ing cones. The appearances of recent igneous action increase 



