ELLICE'S AND KINGS MILL GROUP. 73 



Apia was found to be in latitude 1° 52' 00" N., and 173° 02' 00" 

 E. It is a lagoon island. Its length in the direction of northeast 

 and southwest is sixteen miles, and its average breadth five. On the 

 east side of the island the land is covered with cocoa-nut and pan- 

 danus groves, with some undergrowth. The northwest and west 

 side is a continuous reef, four or five feet above the water's edge, on 

 which are many islets. About the centre of the reef, on the south- 

 west side, is a ship's channel into the lagoon, which is half a mile 

 wide. Near its entrance is a small islet, which stands alone, and is 

 a good mark for the entrance. There is no island in the lagoon, as 

 shown on the French charts of Duperrey. 



This island would appear to be thickly inhabited, from the number 

 of towns on it. Several canoes came off to the ship, which were 

 similar in construction to the others we had seen. Their stock of 

 articles for trade was, as usual, scanty. There was but one woman 

 seen, and she proved as ugly as those previously met with had been 

 pleasing in their looks. They speak the same dialect, and are the 

 same people, although their intercourse seems to have been very much 

 confined to themselves. At the islet near the entrance to the lagoon, 

 about sixty gallons of water were obtained from the native well, but 

 it was flat and brackish. No other supplies can be procured at this 

 island. 



"When the boats landed at the islet, the natives were in great alarm, 

 and fled ; but, reassured by the calls of Kirby, they returned, and their 

 fears were effectually quieted by a few presents. 



It was ascertained that their knowledge of other islands only ex- 

 tended to Tarawa, or Knox's Island, and two others. To one of these 

 they pointed in a direction west of north, and called it Maraki, — 

 Matthew's Island; and the other Taritari and Makin, which they 

 said were two days' sail, and which was believed to be Pitt's Island. 



In the centre of the little village was one of the sacred stones, 

 which was described by Kirby as an object of worship. It consisted 

 of a flat slab of coral rock, about three feet high and two wide, set up 

 on end and dressed with a thick wreath of cocoanut-leaves. It was 

 placed in the centre of a circular platform of sand and pebbles, about 

 nine feet in diameter, raised five or six inches above the soil, and sur- 

 rounded by a ring of stones. At the foot of the coral slab were 

 several large cocoa-nuts, placed there as an offering to the divinity, 

 whom the natives styled Tabu-eriki. The wood-cut at the end of the 

 next chapter is a drawing of one. The priest, a young man, with a 



VOL. V. 19 



