FUNAFUTI: THE STORY OF A CORAL ATOLL. 401 



of its central depression. Let us now return and resume our traverse. 

 The blackened fragments of coral, resembling nothing so much as the 

 clinkers of lava which cumber the slopes of Etna, continue seaward, 

 and are loosely piled to form a gently rising ascent — so loosely piled that 

 they often topple over at a touch and afford very uncertain or even 

 dangerous foothold. 



Walking circumspectly, therefore, up the slope, we soon reach the 

 summit of a long ridge and find ourselves looking toward the Andes, 

 some thousands of miles away over the broad waters of the Pacific 

 Ocean. We stand on the top of the "storm beach," the loftiest region 

 of our island, at the imposing altitude of 10 or even 15 feet, according 

 to the state of the tide. On the seaward face the storm beach descends 

 somewhat rapidly, and near its foot a sheet of hard consolidated coral 

 rag emerges from under it, to form a gently sloping platform, over which 

 the tide ebbs and flows. In places this tidal platform rises in low cliffs, 

 ridges, and pinnacles ] of fantastic shape, but for the most part it pre- 

 sents itself as a sheet of limestone, smoothed and polished by the wear- 

 ing action of the waves. For about 50 yards from its seaward edge it 

 is hollowed into a broad, shallow depression, not deep enough to be 

 called a channel, and finally swells into a narrow rounded rim formed 

 by the growth of a pink-colored calcareous seaweed known as Melobesia. 

 Beyond this rim, which projects above the sea at low tide, lies the 

 growing surface of the reef, which is constantly submerged, so that 

 under no circumstances are the corals, which thickly cover it at any 

 time, exposed to the air. 



Deep chasms gash the edge of the tidal platform, the continuation 

 inland of the lanes of clear sea which wander through the growing 

 reef ; in these chasms a few corals may generally be found, their polypes 

 sometimes brilliantly colored and in full expansion. 



The calcareous alga, previously alluded to as Melobesia, forms the 

 lips of these chasms, and by its luxuriant growth may more or less 

 completely roof them over, generally leaving one or more apertures, 

 which act as blowholes. 



The ocean side of the reef is one of the pleasantest parts of the 

 island; a cool breeze almost always blows there; and, under the wel- 

 come shelter of the palms and pandanus which crowd the summit of 

 the storm beach, one may watch the beautiful and impressive spectacle 

 below; the ocean, of a deep majolica blue, rolls inward in majestic 

 waves, which suddenly grow gigantic as they approach the shore, 

 towering in a wall of water above the reef, and then spring with a 

 furious roar into a confusion of white foam, which seethes about the 

 madder-tinted margin of Melobesia, rushes through the chasms of the 

 tidal platform, and often spouts up through the blowholes with sudden 

 and explosive violence, like a kind of marine geysers. It is only on 

 calm days that the extreme margin of the reef can be approached with 



1 See note 1, p. 400. 

 SM 98—26 



