1883.] 247 [Sharpies. 



a small schooner, belonging to an old man who was a pilot, 

 smuggler, or wrecker, as occasion offered, and who was willing to 

 turn an honest penny now and then by carrying passengers 

 between the islands. Running down before the wind we came in 

 about four hours to the island, and here we found, much better 

 displayed than at Turks Island, all the phenomena of a coral 

 ibland. 



First, we came to the barrier reef where ther water changes 

 from the beautiful indigo tint of the deep sea, to the bright green 

 or white of the soundings. Passing through the reef, by a narrow 

 crooked passage where it seemed each instant that we were going 

 upon the sharp points of the coral, we found ourselves floating on 

 a sea of transparent green water resembling glass in its clearness, 

 and so smooth that objects could be seen at the depth of fifteen or 

 twenty feet. 



Outside of the reef the huge waves were tumbling in one after 

 the other, and broke on the reef in one long line of foam, while 

 inside, the boat was only gently rocked by 1 the swell of some 

 wave larger than its fellows, which overtopped the reef. The 

 whole northern shore is surrounded by reefs, which are generally 

 at some distance from the shore, but occasionally a long point 

 extends from the shore line to the reef thus dividing the channel 

 inside into a number of small bays. 



These bays afford a safe passage for small boats from one end 

 of the island to the other. They are, however, very narrow in 

 places and have many shoals in them, and in several places one 

 is invited to get out of the boat and walk across, while the 

 men take the boat through the surf at the end of the point. The 

 shore of the island offers a splendid opportunity for the study of 

 the formation of a coral island. We have here the barrier or 

 fringing reef, the lagoon inside of it, the coral sand beach, sur- 

 mounted by a sand dune, crowned with palmettos, and then the 

 low interior of the island, covered with a thorny underbrush. 



The palmettos grow only on the windward sand dunes and 

 rarely extend inward more than two hundred yards. 



The guano caves, which it was our special object to visit, are 

 situated at the western end of the island on a beautiful bay, which 

 is large enough to afford anchorage for vessels drawing nine or 

 ten feet of water. The caves are in a low range of hills which 



