208 APFENDIX. 



lie scattered in a N.W. line prolonged for a great distance from 

 the Sandwich group, and hence have left them uncoloured, 

 with one exception ; for I am indebted to Mr. F. D. Bennett 

 for informing me of an atoll-formed reef, in lat. 28° 22', 

 long. 178° 30' W., on which the Gledstanes was wrecked in 

 1837. It is apparently of large size, and extends in a N.W. 

 and S.E. line : very few islets have been formed on it. The 

 lagoon seems to be shallow ; at least, the deepest part which 

 was surveyed was only three fathoms. Mr. Couthouy (Re- 

 marks, p. 38) describes this island under the name of Ocean 

 Island. Considerable doubts should be entertained regarding 

 the nature of a reef of this kind, with a very shallow lagoon, 

 and standing far from any other atoll, on account of the possi- 

 bility of a crater or flat bank of rock lying at the proper depth 

 beneath the surface of the water, having afforded a founda- 

 tion for a ring-formed coral-reef. I have, however, thought 

 myself compelled, from its large size and symmetrical outline, 

 to colour it blue. Some information and references are 

 given by Dana (Corals and Coral Islands, p. 324, 365) with 

 respect to the reefs and islets extending for 2,000 miles in a 

 N.W. line from Hawaii. 



Samoa or Navigator Group. — Kotzebue, in his Second 

 Voyage, contrasts these islands with many others in the 

 Pacific, in not having harbours for ships, formed by distant 

 coral-reefs. The Eev. J. Williams, however, informs me 

 that coral-reefs do occur in irregular patches on the shores ; 

 but that they do not form a continuous band, as round Mangaia, 

 and other such perfect cases of fringed islands. From the charts 

 accompanying La Peyrouse's Voyage, it appears that the north 

 shore of Savaii, Maouna, Orosenga, and Manua are fringed by 

 reefs. La Peyrouse, speaking of Maouna (p. 126), says that 

 the coral-reef surrounding its shores almost touches the 

 beach, and is breached in front of the little coves and 

 streams, forming passages for canoes, and probably even for 

 boats. Further on (p. 159) he extends the same observation 



