290 



AUSTRALASIA. 



over the reefs without destroying them, whereas ou the east the far more furious 

 breakers displace and heap up huge fragments, which are gradually bound together 

 in a compact mass by the shells and sands. The seeds of plants drifting with the 

 current strike root on the ground thus prepared : shrubs spring up and in course 

 of time the reefs are covered with dense forest. Of all these wooded atolls Maraki 



Fig. 128. — Marshall Aechipelaoo. 

 Scale 1 : 8,650,000. 



165' 



Lasb of Greenwrch 



172' 



to 1,000 

 Fathoms 



Depths. 



1,000 to 2,000 

 Fathoms. 



300 Miles. 



in the Gilbert group is the most picturesque. Seen from the mast-head it looks 

 like a green garland floating on the blue waters ; here also nearly all the islets 

 have become united in a single unbroken ring. 



The climate of the Marshalls is one of the most delightful in the oceanic world. 

 Here the normal tropical heats are tempered by the north-east winds which pre- 

 vail regularly from November to February, and which at other times are replaced 



