156 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Jaluit was left on February 5 by way of the Southwest Pass, which 

 has deep water, but is skirted on the lagoon side bj^ a long fringe of 

 reefs. Namorik was passed in the night, and on the afternoon of 

 February 7 the Albatross reached Kusaie, the first of the Caroline 

 Islands. A boisterous sea was encountered in this part of the cruise 

 which not only prevented sounding, but made it inexpedient to enter 

 Chabral Harbor, as contemplated, its mouth being open to the full 

 force of the trade winds, and it was nightfall when the ship came to 

 anchor in Port Lottin, the approaches to which were in smoother 

 water. The room in this harbor is circumscribed and the published 

 plan is inaccurate, and a hurried survey was made by the officers of 

 the vessel during the day and a half spent there. 



Kusaie, which is 10 or 12 miles in diameter, is a high volcanic island, 

 Avith its central peak. Mount Crozer, rising to a height of 2,155 feet, and 

 several others almost equaling it in altitude. The shores are largely 

 formed of mangrove swamps traversed by a network of confluent 

 channels and bayous, in which respect it resembles the delta regions 

 of Yiti Levu and some of the other large islands of the Fijis, and 

 differs from the Society Islands, where the mangrove was not seen 

 anywhere. Many of the streams of Kusaie have no definite mouths, 

 but in their lower courses become lost in the mangrove swamps. The 

 entire coast of the island is fringed by reefs lying outside of the man- 

 grove swamps and interrupted in but three places by harbor mouths, 

 and, by using the bayous and the shallow channels back of the reefs, 

 canoes can travel around considerable parts of the coast in smooth 

 water, even when a heavy sea is running outside. 



The vegetation of Kusaie is dense and varied. Here the vegetable 

 ivory tree, the most majestic of the South Sea palms, was first met 

 with by the expedition. Its fruit is an article of commerce, being 

 utilized in the production of articles for which ivory was formerly 

 used. Fruits and vegetables and some excellent beef were obtained 

 here for the use of the ship. 



On February 10, the day following her departure from Kusaie, the 

 Albatross reached Pingelap, where she lay to without sending a party 

 ashore. Pingelap is an atoll of irregular shape and hardly 3 miles in 

 diameter. There are three islands on the reef, between which fierce 

 war was formerly waged until one gained the ascendency and brought 

 all under its rule, since which the population has increased so rapidly 

 that the people can barely support themselves upon the scanty yield 

 of the soil and the fisheries, their only resources. A party of natives, 

 including the chief, who came off to the ship, stated that although the 

 people are all professed Christians, the missionary vessel never calls 

 there, and they are left to the religious ministrations of a native. 



Ponape, the capital island of the former Spanish administration of 

 the Carolines, was reached on February 11, and a stop of less than a 

 day was made at Kiti Harbor, on the south side, Jakoits, the northern 

 port and seat of government, not being visited. The inner harbor has 



