ELEVATIONS IN PACIFIC CORAL REGIONS. 339 



feet. The unusual size of the island for one without a lagoon, 

 and the luxuriance of the forest vegetation, are probable evi- 

 dence of some elevation, but not beyond three feet. 



Palmyra Island, northeast of Washington, is described 

 by Fanning as having two lagoons, the westernmost with 

 twenty fathoms water. 



Fanning '<? Island, southeast of Washington, according to 

 the same voyager, is lower than that island. The accounts 

 give no evidence of elevation in either Fanning 1 s or Pal- 

 myra. 



Christmas Island, in lat. 1° 53' N., 157° 32' W., is thirty 

 miles long, and is described by Cook as having the rim of 

 land in some parts three miles wide. He speaks of narrow 

 ridges lying parallel with the seacoast, which "must have 

 been thrown up by the sea, though it does not reach within a 

 mile of some of these places." The proof of elevation is de- 

 cided, but its amount is uncertain. The account of J. D. 

 Bennett (Geogr. Journ., vii. 226), represents it as a low coral 

 island. 



Jarvis's Island, in 0° 22' S., and 159° 58' W., is, ac- 

 cording to J. D. Hague, eighteen to twenty-eight feet in 

 height, which would indicate an elevation of at least eight 

 or ten feet. See further page 291. 



Maiden's, in 4° 15' S., 155° W., two hundred and fifty 

 miles southeast of Jarvis, visited by Lord Byron, is described 

 by him as not over forty feet high. It is ten miles long. 



StarbucFs, or Hero Island, in 5° 40' S., 155° 55' W., is 

 an elevated lagoon island ; but the amount of elevation is not 

 stated. Like Jarvis's, it contains a large deposit of gypsum, 

 but not much guano. — (J. D. Hague.) 



Penrhyris Island, near 9° S. and 157° W., has a length 

 of nine miles, and an extensive lagoon with a boat entrance 



