J. C. Branner— ^-Geology of Fernando de Noronha. 161 



bedding is found to extend beneatli the water,* indicating that 

 the island once stood at a higher elevation. It should be 

 noted, however, that the isolated remnant of sandstone near 

 Sao Jose known as the Ohapeo, and the western ends of Ilha 

 Raza and Ilha Rapta stand upon waterworn shingle. Inas- 

 much as the cobbles must have been worn before they were 

 covered by sand, the island must have stood at a level as low 

 or somewhat lower than its present one while the cobbles 

 were being made, and as the wind bedding could not be pro- 

 duced below the surface of the water or in sand to which the 

 waves had access, the island must have been elevated some- 

 what before the dunes were blown over and deposited upon 

 the shingle-covered beaches. . 



That they were blown up from the south or southeast is 

 shown by the geographic . positions of the various beds, by the 

 absence of such rocks at corresponding elevations on the op- 

 posite sides of the islands, and by the internal structure of 

 the rocks themselves, the steeper face of the dune always 

 being toward the north or northeast. But as there is now no 

 beach from which this sand could have been derived, we must 

 conclude that the island was, not long ago, wider to the south- 

 east, and that there were upon that side of it sandy shores, 

 upon which an abundance of organic remains was thrown 

 and ground to sand. These sands were then blown across the 

 island to and upon the opposite shore, burying the former 

 bowlder-covered beach near Sao Jose beneath 15 or *20 feet of 

 sand, and piling it up considerably higher than the highest 

 parts of the existing sand-rock. They joined into one what 

 are now the separate islands and places marked as sandstone 

 upon the map. 



* See also the voyage of the Challenger, by Sir C. Wyville Thomson, vol. ii, p. 

 100. et seq. 



Note upon the Map. — The names given upon the map and in this paper are those 

 used by the inhabitants of the island. Other names have been used by visitors 

 and navigators, especially by English and French-speaking persons who knew 

 but little or nothing of the Portuguese language, or who have had no opportunity 

 of learning the correct names. Inasmuch as these English and French names are 

 not the ones known and used at Fernando de Noronha they cannot be regarded 

 as correct That there may be no misunderstanding, however, about some of 

 the more important points mentioned in this paper and by others who have vis- 

 ited this island, I give a few of the names erroneously used with the correct 

 Portuguese names. 



Ilha Rapta has been called Rat Island by the English, and He aux Rats by the 

 French. The word rapta is the participle of the verb raptar, Eng. rape. It is 

 supposed to have been given on account of the place once having been occupied 

 by Dutch pirates. 



Sella a, Gineta (horned saddle), so named on account of its resemblance to a 

 horned saddle, is called St. Michael's Mount by English and French. 



Morro do Frade (friar's hill), so called on account of its resemblance to a 

 monk's cowl, is called Le Glocher by the French. Ilha Raza (flat island), has 

 been named Egg Island, and Ilha do Meio (middle island), has been called Booby 

 Island. 



10a 



