REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 139 



was subsequent I}' extended seaward at each end lor a distance of 

 several miles, in order to develop the submarine insular slope. 



After leaving Rairoa the atolls of Mataiwa and Tikehau were exam- 

 ined from the ship and a landing for a few hours was made at Makatea, 

 an elevated coral island of considerable interest. The cruise was then 

 continued to Tahiti, in the Society Islands, where coal and supplies 

 were to be obtained for the cruise through the Paumotus. 



Tahiti was sighted at daylight on September 27 and the anchor 

 dropped in Papeete Harbor on the afternoon of the same day. A 

 week was spent at this port in coaling, laying in supplies, and making 

 minor repairs and overhauling the engine. The naturalists of the 

 party utilized the time in collecting on shore and on the reefs. The 

 harbor is protected from the sea by a barrier reef, part of a long stretch 

 which practically encircles the island, changing from fringing reef to 

 barrier reef, and conversely, as it establishes or loses its connection 

 with the main island. Opposite Papeete the reef is interrupted by a 

 pass, one of many which occur at intervals, through which shipping 

 gains access to the harbor, Papeete is the seat of the French colonial 

 government in the South Sea Islands. It has a garrison of about 200 

 men, and a cruiser is usually lying in the harbor. The United States 

 and several European governments are represented here by consuls, 

 who are accredited to the French South Sea possessions as a whole. The 

 population is said to be about 5,000, of whom a large number are whites 

 engaged in trade or connected with the government of the island. 



On October 5 the Albatross sailed from Papeete for a cruise through 

 the Paumotu Archipelago, during the course of which Makatea was 

 revisited and about twenty-five other islands, of which Pinaki was the 

 easternmost, were examined. During this cruise much information 

 was gathered concerning the formation of the islands of the Paumotus, 

 which furnish a fairly complete series, from the typical atolls like 

 Rairoa to the elevated coral plateau of Makatea. 



A landing was made at Makatea and a party crossed the island to 

 a village on the east side. The top of the coral table-land exhibited a 

 slight depression in the interior, and the rocks are eroded by subaerial 

 agencies into a picturesque diversity of caverns, small canyons, and 

 pinnacles, unlike anything seen elsewhere on the cruise. The pre- 

 cipitous walls, which in places rise sheer from the sea, and elsew^here 

 are fringed with narrow beaches and reef flats, by their terraces and 

 lines of caverns eroded by the waves, indicate that the island has 

 passed through four periods of elevation. The cliffs are most precipi- 

 tous on the weather side, and the terraces best developed on the more 

 sheltered shores. The vegetation is richer and more varied than on 

 the low islands of the Paumotus subsequently visited. 



Stops varying in length from six days to an hour or two were made 

 at a number of the islands, and wherever opportunities occurred 

 collections were made by the naturalists of the expedition. The 

 trawl and dredge hauls, which were in depths of from 725 to 2,440 



