334 



PAUMOTU GROUP. 



All the naturalists were sent on shore, with as many of the officers 

 as could be spared from duty. We landed near what the natives 

 called their village. This consisted of one or two huts, built in a grove 

 of large trees, consisting principally of Pisonias, fifty or sixty feet in 

 height. Some of these had been felled (with a small hatchet, of which 

 they possessed only one,) to build canoes. It is principally used for 

 out-riggers, being light and durable, and well adapted for that purpose. 

 We found two canoes partly dug out. The woods were quite thick 

 and forest-like. The inhabitants of the village consisted of four men, 

 two women, a dog, and a cat ; the remainder of the inhabitants live on 

 the northeast side. The lagoon abounds with fish, and has several 

 small coral knolls in it, though none with much vegetation on them. 

 This is the most elevated of the low coral islands we had yet met 

 with. 



It has a deep entrance into its lagoon, on the west side. 



The same formation presents itself here, of three distinct shelves : 

 the one submerged, narrow, and shelving rapidly, the other broad, 

 level, and covered at high water, but quite bare at low, and having 

 the same longitudinal cracks in it. On the upper one is the usual 

 accumulation of coral debris and sand, on which the vegetation 

 grows. 



On the lagoon side the beach slopes gradually, and there is seldom 

 found any decided break, from which to judge of the thickness of the 

 coral shelf. On the upper shelf, some large compact coral blocks are 

 found. One of these, which I measured, was ten by twenty feet. Jt 

 rested upon two small fragments, the remainder having been gradually 

 worn away by the washing of the sea ; it seemed, in fact, to be a part 

 of that forming the second or upper shelf of coral. The following 

 wood-cut comprises several that were seen on the coral islands, and 

 will give an idea of their shapes. The highest point of the island was 

 twelve feet above low-water mark. 



CORAL BLOCKS. 



The fresh water is procured from a large pool, about fifty feet in 



