APPENDIX. 199 



kind, with a very shallow lagoon, and standing far from any 

 other atoll, on account of the possibility of a crater or flat 

 bank of rock lying at the proper depth beneath the surface 

 of the water, thus affording a foundation for a ring-formed 

 coral-reef. I have, however, thought myself compelled, 

 from its large size and symmetrical outline, to colour it blue. 

 Samoa or .Navigator Group. — Kotzebue, in his second 

 voyage, contrasts the structure of these islands with many 

 others in the Pacific, in not being furnished with harbours for 

 ships, formed by distant coral-reefs. The Rev. J. Williams, 

 however, informs me, that coral-reefs do occur in irregular 

 patches on the shores of these islands ; 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 i 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 to all the islands which he visited. 

 Mr. Williams in his Narrative, speaks of a reef going round 

 a small island attached to Oyo/ava, and returning again to 

 it : all these islands have been coloured red. — A chart of 

 Pose Island, at the extreme west end of the group, is given 

 by Freycinet, from which I should have thought that it had 

 been an atoll; but according to Mr. Couthouy (Pemarks, 

 p. 43), it consists of a reef, only a league in circuit, sur- 

 mounted by a very few low islets ; the lagoon is very 

 shallow, and is strewed with numerous large boulders of 

 volcanic rock. This island, therefore, probably consists 

 of a bank of rock, a few feet submerged, with the outer 



