REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 157 



good water and bottom, but the approach through the narrows is much 

 restricted by coral reefs on each side, and as the stay of the Albatross 

 was to be brief she anchored in the outer harbor, the entrance to which 

 is easy. Ponape closely resembles Kusaie in its general characters, 

 but is somewhat larger, having a diameter of about 15 miles, with a 

 central peak rising to an altitude approaching 2,900 feet. The reef 

 platform surrounding the island is, however, much broader than at 

 Kusaie, being upward of 2 miles across at Kiti Harbor and much wider 

 on the north shore. There are a number of islands on the reef, some 

 of them of volcanic origin, probably detached portions of the main 

 island, while others, for example those near Kiti Harbor, are, like the 

 islets of typical atolls, composed of reworked coral sand and frag- 

 ments from the reefs. Behind the sandy islets, which are mostly on 

 the edge of the reef and near the harbor mouths, there is, at least to 

 the eastward of Kiti Harbor, a channel with some depth. 



A small river, about 100 feet wide at its mouth and several feet 

 deep, flows into the head of Kiti Harbor, but the entrance to it is so 

 obstructed by a bar that the boats could only enter it with ease near 

 high water. It contains many small fish, though apparently of but few 

 species, and its banks support a rich vegetation. There are several 

 white men at Kiti Harbor and some small plantations of bananas and 

 other fruit trees. The breadfruit, jacktree, and vegetable ivory palm 

 all attain a large size, and the royal poinciana, with its scarlet blossoms 

 on otherwise almost naked branches, was found in abundance. 



The last stop made by the Albatross in the Caroline Archipelago 

 was at Moen or Uala Island, in the Truk group, which was reached 

 on February 14 and left on February 17. The Truk group consists 

 of about a score of volcanic islands and islets surrounded by a bar- 

 rier reef, with a diameter of about 70 miles, and supporting numerous 

 low, sandy islets having the appearance, as viewed from the ship, of 

 the islands usually found on atoll rims. The northern part of the 

 reef is said to be much broader than the southern, where it varies from 

 about one-third to one-half mile in width, with many interruptions. 

 The high islands, which are volcanic in formation, vary from 12 miles in 

 length to inconsiderable islets, several of them possessing peaks 1,200 

 or 1,300 feet high. Each of these islands is surrounded by a narrow 

 fringe of reef, and in fact the group as a whole looks like an exagger- 

 ation of the conditions observed at Kusaie and Ponape, the lagoon 

 being merely the reef channel of those islands enormously widened 

 and considerably deepened and surrounding a group of smaller 

 islands instead of one large one. 



In addition to the islands at which stops were made, the islands of 

 Andema, Namu, Losap, the Royalist group, and Namonuito were 

 coasted, and their general characters observed froai the ship. 



The land fauna of the Carolines is much richer in proportion to the 

 land area than in any of the other islands visited by the Albatross. 

 In the EUice, Gilbert, and Marshall islands land birds are extremely 



