44 ON CORAL REEFS AND ISLANDS. 



hoff) there is a watering place 50 feet in diameter, from which 

 our vessels in a few hours obtained 390 gallons. The Tarawan 

 Islands are generally provided with a supply sufficient for bath- 

 ing, and each native takes his morning bath in fresh water, which 

 is esteemed by them a great luxury. On Taritari, as Mr. Hale was 

 informed by a Scotch sailor taken from the island, by the name 

 of Gray, there is a long trench or canal, described by him as 

 several miles long, and two feet deep. They have taro planta- 

 tions, which require a large supply of water, besides some bread- 

 fruit. These islands have been elevated a little, but are not over 

 fifteen feet above the sea. # 



The only source of this water, is the rains, which, percolating 

 through the loose surface, 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. 



These islands moreover enclose ports of great extent, many 

 admitting even the largest class of vessels : and the same lagoons 

 are the pearl fisheries of the Pacific. 



An occasional log drifts to their shores, and at some of the 

 more isolated atolls, where the natives are ignorant of any land 

 but the spot they inhabit, they are deemed direct gifts from a 

 propitiated deity. These drift-logs were noticed by Kotzebue, 

 at the Marshall Islands, and he remarked also that they often 

 brought stones in their roots. Similar facts were observed by us 

 at the Tarawan Group, and also at Enderby's Island and else- 

 where. 



The stones at the Tarawan Islands, as far as we could learn, 

 are generally basaltic, and they are highly valued for whetstones, 

 pestles, and hatchets. The logs are claimed by the chiefs for 

 canoes. Some of the logs, like those at Enderby's Island, were 

 forty feet or more long. 



Fragments of pumice and resin are transported by the waves 

 to the Tarawan Islands. We were informed that the pumice 

 was gathered from the shores by the women, and pounded up to 

 fertilize the soil of their taro patches; and it is so common that 

 one woman will pick up a peck in a day. Pumice was also met 



* The Scotchman (Gray) from whom this information was obtained, added that 

 ten ships of the line might water there, though the place was not reached without 

 some difficulty. There were fish in the pond which had been put in while young. 

 The bottom was adhesive like clay. He spoke of the taro as growing to a very 

 large size, and as being in great abundance ; it was planted along each side of the 

 pond. 



Kotzebue observes, that "in the inner part of Otdia [one 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, London, 1821, iii, 145. 



