DESCEIPTION OF SMALL ISLANDS OF THE ATOLL. 101 



MOTUSANAPA. 



This consists of ;i immbei' of isolated portions of land, identical in character with that of the island on 

 either side of it, so far as it has not been disturbed by the several channels. The waters flowing through 

 these channels are eroding a course for themselves through the island mass ; in this way thej^ have, with 

 attacks from the sea in specially rough weather, so cut up and separated the original land, that now 

 there is not one, but many, islets at high water. On these but little vegetation now exists, except 

 "Ngie" {Penvphis (icidulu) trees and a few other shrubs and bushes, while, at the ebb and flow of the 

 tides, the waters stream over the corrosion zone, and along by the masses of the breccia sheet which 

 still remain and form the defence to the tiny islets behind them. To these masses of l)reccia, some of 

 which are unusually high, we may attribute the existence of these isolated remnants of land, which at no 

 very distant date formed simply the central portion of that which was continuous from the west end of 

 Motuloa to the east end of Telele, uniting them in one island, which then justified the title of Long Island. 

 Eelatively to other islands near by, Motuloa itself is by no means a long island, for it is much shorter 

 than Telele, and not half as long as Funafala, but, if this union were complete, it would be the longest 

 of the three. So I consider Motuloa to have been the name originally given to the whole island, the 

 other two being either used to designate portions of its length (as is ciistomary with the islanders), or 

 later in date than their separation. In either case, if this island were named by the natives on their 

 first becoming acquainted with its peculiarity (which I think probable), its separation must be more 

 modern than the first ancestor of the present inhabitants. Near the corrosion zone there are big bosses 

 of the breccia sheet more or less united with it, sometimes rugged, and almost or quite vertical, or even, 

 in parts of it, overhanging ; at others, more rarely, sloping away into the main breccia mass. This latter 

 condition is particularly noticeable in the largest of these masses, which, indeed, is the largest and highest 

 on any of the islands, being 20 feet x 12 feet x 10 feet above high water, and exhibiting above the 

 breccia sheet a decided though rude stratification of its included broken and worn pieces of coral rubble, 

 intermingled in its upper parts with more and more coral in the position of growth. This becomes 

 more distinct (while stratification is lost) as its summit is approached. Many of the forms, being 

 quite delicate, are broken, and the interspaces filled in with fine and coarse coral debris, shells, sand, 

 &c. The base of this mass is continuous with the breccia sheet ; its landward side, when near the 

 level of the general surface of the latter, slopes away to it without any distinct line or unconform- 

 ability between the two. Crossing to the lagoon side a perceptible depression in the platform is 

 noticed inside the breccia now undergoing active erosion, which is continued on to the lagoon platform 

 for a considerable distance ; it is comparable in kind, but less in depth, with the pool or hole in which 

 corals are growing close hy the west end of Motuloa and east side of Nukusavalivali. 



TELELE. 



Telele (Plate 5) is called from " te," the, "lele,"the native name of Cardiuin fragwm. The shells of 

 this mollusc occur in unusual numbers along the lagoon side of this island as at Motuloa ; nowhere else 

 on this atoll except at the S.E. end of Funafala are they at all conspicuously numerous among the sands 

 and shells of the beach, while here it is often white with them. On nearing the sand bank at the N.E. 

 end they become proportionately less numerous, the sand composed of Tinojwrus baculatiis accumulating 

 here and extending over the area of the island in this part on to the lagoon platform. This island on 

 its lagoon side and in the centre, starting from Motusanapa, is similar in character to the adjacent 

 islands for nearly two-thirds of its length, when it widens out considerably, and at its eastern end 

 resembles in outline the bottom of a high-heeled boot, the toe directed to the lagoon, the instep being 

 represented by the accumulated sand bank. It will be noticed that there are no headlands or bays 



