400 FUNAFUTI: THE STORY OF A CORAL ATOLL. 



abruptly, changes its aspect. The place of the forest, so rich and varied, 

 is taken by a grotesque growth of "Nya" trees, whose stubborn, con- 

 torted trunks, strangely at variance with their dainty foliage, bar the 

 way. Struggling through these, one enters upon a savage plain " hor- 

 rid " with rugged fragments of blackened coral and cumbered here 

 and there with huge bowlders of coral rock some tons in weight. 1 At 

 low water this desolate region is dry and burns in the sun, but as the 

 tide rises sea water oozes up through holes in the ground and covers it 

 with shallow pools. Few animals live in this desert. Spiders, that 

 infest the "Nya" trees, and mosquitoes, that lie greedily in wait by 

 day as well as night, are the chief that I bear in mind. Proceeding 

 lengthwise along this plain, which lies in the middle of the island, it 

 broadens out and passes into a muddy swamp planted by the natives 

 with taro, a delicious substitute for potatoes, and bananas, which one 

 still reflects upon with pleasure. Their fruit was our chief luxury, and 

 we willingly paid for it at the somewhat exorbitant price of 4 fathoms 

 of calico a bunch. 



Farther on, beyond the plantation, the depression becomes still 

 wider, forming an extensive flat, partly margined by mangrove trees 

 and Hibiscus. This was known to us as the mangrove swamp. It is an 

 interesting corner of the island. The floor represents the upper surface 

 of a deal coral reef, composed partly of great masses of Porites. Their 

 flattened summits, standing some 8 or 10 inches above the floor, give 

 them the appearance of a row of stepping-stones and mark what was 

 the level of low tide at the time the reef was living. 2 Radiating from 

 these blocks as from a nucleus are vertical plates of the "blue coral" 

 (Heliopora coerulea), which extend outward, branching as they go, for 

 a distance of 3 yards or more. Overlapping the reef lies a layer of con- 

 solidated coral breccia. It has suffered much from erosion by the sea 

 and bounds the inner side of the depression in cliffs 3 or 4 feet in height. 

 A. sheet of clear, green water covers the swamp at high tide, converting 

 it into a shallow lake, which, as the tide falls, empties itself through 

 deep holes in the floor into subterranean passages, which freely commu- 

 nicate with the outer sea. The northern end of this depression is closed 

 by coral breccia and overgrown with mangroves, but farther on it 

 recommences and extends through the remainder of the island, almost 

 as far as its northernmost extremity, forming a discontinuous narrow 

 trough bordered by steep cliffs. This trough and the depression to 

 which it belongs owes its origin in some degree to solution by sea 

 water. 



We have deviated from our walk across the island to follow the course 



' One of these measured 6 feet by 5 feet by 4 feet. 



2 The last episode in the history of the island appears to have been a slight eleva- 

 tion of some 4 or 5 feet; at least I was led to this conclusion from evidence furnished 

 by the "dead reef" of the mangrove swamp, by the "sea stacks" or pinnacles of 

 coral rag of the tidal platform, and by the steep cliffs which in some of the islets 

 border the lagoon. 



