FUNAFUTI: THE STORY OF A CORAL ATOLL. 399 



which give the beach the appearance of a miniature encampment. 

 The sand is the famous "coral" sand; but on picking up a handful for 

 nearer inspection we are surprised to find that it contains scarcely any 

 coral; and, so far from consisting of detrital material, it is almost 

 entirely composed of the shells of Foraminifera, two species predomi- 

 nating, Tinoporus baeulatus and Orbitolites complanata. From speci- 

 mens collected on other atolls by the late Professor Moseley, and pre- 

 served in the University Museum at Oxford, it would appear that the 

 sand at Funafuti is by no means singular in this respect, and the term 

 "coral" sand is only another instance of the "lucus a non." 



The lagoon beach ends in a tiny cliff about a foot in height, 1 to the 

 very edge of which sparse turf and vegetation of a larger growth 

 extends. The land to which this cliff is boundary consists chiefly of 

 small fragments of coral and shells of Foraminifera. It rises a little, so as 

 to attain a maximum height of 3 or 4 feet above high-water mark. In 

 breadth it varies considerably, and where broadest the native village 

 stands, with the church, large enough to contain the whole population, 

 all churchgoers, the school, mission house, and palace. A row of 

 graves, made tomb like with slabs of coral, runs down the middle of 

 the main street. The whole of this sandy flat is covered with rich 

 forest growth, cocoanut palms in all stages, from the young plant just 

 sprouting from the shell to the ancient of the groves, 80 feet in height, 

 bearing heavy clusters of ripe fruit beneath its crown of feathery 

 fronds; pandanus, with its strange adventitious roots and truculent 

 sword-shaped leaves, broken in the middle ; the laurel-like Nono 

 (Morinda citrifolia) and the " Nya " tree (Pemphis), with its heavy 

 stem of hard red wood and delicate foliage. Ferns abound, and some 

 brightly colored flowering plants; an Abutilon, which puts forth fresh 

 blossoms day by day, and a handsome bean, which trails through the 

 forest, bearing large heart-shaped leaves and heavy racemes of lilac 

 flowers. 



The great robber crab (Biirgus), which feeds on cocoanuts and pan- 

 danus fruit, is at home here, and may be seen climbing the cocoa palms 

 by night. Other laud crabs scramble through the fallen palm leaves 

 which thickly strew the ground. Many of these are of the hermit 

 kind, and one of them has a curious habit of croaking like a frog when 

 captured. But no part of the island is free from land crabs. Like rats 

 and mice, they are the universal scavengers. They undermined our 

 house, attacked our tinned provisions, and one could not sit down to 

 eat a cocoanut without some of these weird creatures gathering round 

 to pick up the fallen crumbs. 



As we continue our passage across the sand the scene rapidly, even 



1 This applies to that part of the islet on which our house was built. In some 

 places more considerable cliffs are met with, e. g., on one of the northern islets of 

 Funafuti called Ainatupu, where a conglomerate of coral pebbles form steep faces 

 some 6 feet or more in height. 



