CHAPTER X. 



LITTLE SWAN ISLAND. 



Little Swan Island, which we have so far entirely ignored, 

 lies to the east of Swan Island the greater, the two being 

 separated by a shallow strip of water less than a quarter 

 of a mile across. 



Although so close together, the two islands are super- 

 ficially not at all alike. Little Swan Island rises abruptly 

 from the sea like a big bluff about a mile and a quarter 

 long. Except at its north-west comer, the low cliffs which 

 form its sides fall almost perpendicularly to the sea. Like 

 the larger island, it lies due east and west ; but whereas 

 on the southern side, the water is fairly deep right up to 

 the base of the perpendicular cliffs, without a hint of any 

 fringing or outlying reef ; on the northern side the water 

 is much shallower and full of sunken reefs. Moreover, 

 this northern side, although higher, is not so perpendicular 

 as the southern, and is strewn at its base with a jumble 

 of massive fragments of rock. The plateau formed by 

 the top of the island is densely overgrown with trees and 

 bushes, which form a closely matted dome of vegetation 

 above its wind-swept surface. This island has never 

 been inhabited ; and the only thing which could possibly 

 induce any sort of commercial enterprise upon it — a deposit 

 of phosphates at its eastern end — has never been worked. 



During our three weeks' stay we visited Little Swan 

 Island several times, being attracted by its entirely 

 undisturbed condition ; but on each occasion had to 

 choose a calm day, for if there is any sweU at all it is very 



