THE TROPICAL PACIFIC 359 



Off Tahiti, September 27- " After leaving Rangiroa 

 we steamed west round the two adjacent atolls; these 

 appeared to show nothing special or different from the 

 one we examined and fall into the line well. . . . After 

 leaving Matahiva we ran a line of soundings to Aurora 

 Island, which is a fine specimen of an elevated island 

 such as we had in Fiji, only finer perhaps. ... I got 

 the whaleboat and the dory, and in less than an hour 

 we were all ashore collecting and taking photographs. 

 The surf was no worse than it is on ordinary days on 

 Collins Beach, 1 and you would have thought we were 

 trying to land in a hurricane ! All we got were wet 

 feet, and we got off perfectly well with all our collections 

 and photographs dry as chips. What we saw was just 

 as at Fiji, and now I feel that my views of the Paumo- 

 tus are settled. It 's merely a question of reconnoitering 

 a dozen or more islands, and I hope we may get through 

 this in a month after we coal instead of six weeks or so, 

 as I had laid out. From here, Aurora Island, we shall 

 run a line of soundings to Tahiti where will end the 

 first part of our trip, and on whole very successful but 

 could have been better." 



After coaling at Papeete, the Albatross again made 

 for the Paumotus, calling on the way at the little islands 

 of Tetiaroa, about thirty miles to the northeast of 

 Papeete, which Agassiz was delighted to find composed 

 of limestone, as this fitted them nicely into his scheme 

 of coral reefs. 



Fakarava, October 11. "We have been most suc- 

 cessful thus far. After leaving Makatea we went to 

 Niau, which was another island (elevated) according to 



1 Now Bateraan's Beach, Newport. 



