ELEVATIONS IN PACIFIC CORAL REGIONS. 347 



2. That they have in some instances affected single islands, 

 and not those adjoining. Metia is 250 feet high, and yet the 

 other Paumotus in that part of the archipelago, and also the 

 Tahitian islands, have been but little, or not at all, elevated. 



3. That the amount is often very unequal in adjacent 

 islands. 



4. That in a few instances the change has been experienced 

 by a whole group or chain of islands. The Gilbert Group 

 is an instance, and the rise appears to increase from the south- 

 ernmost island to Apaiang, and then to diminish again to 

 the other extremity. 



The Feejees may be an example of a rise at the west side 

 of a group, and possibly a subsidence on the east; while a 

 little farther east, the Tonga Islands constitute another ex- 

 tended area of elevation. We observe that while the Samoan 

 Islands afford no evidences of elevation, the Tonga Islands on 

 the south have been raised, and also the Fakaafo Group and 

 others on the north. 



We cannot, therefore, distinguish any evidence that a gen- 

 eral rise is, or has been, in progress ; yet some large areas ap- 

 pear to have been simultaneously affected, although the action 

 has generally been isolated. Metia and Elizabeth Island may 

 have risen abruptly ; but the changes of level in the Feejees 

 and the Friendly Islands, appear to have taken place by grad- 

 ual action. 



