36G 



MATABELLO, 



[chat, XXV. 



when I got up, two hours later, just as the sun was setting, 

 1 found we were still a good distance from the point, 

 owing to a strong currant which had been for some time 

 against us. Night closed in, and the wind drew mere 

 ahead, so we had to take in sail. Then came a cahuj and 

 we rowed and sailed as occasion offered ; and it was four in 

 the morning when we reached the village of Kissiwoi, not 

 having made more tlian three miles in the last twelve 

 hours. 



MATABELLO ISLANDS. 



At daylight I found we were in a heautiful little 

 liarbour, formed by a coral reef about two hundred 

 yards from shore, and perfectly secure in every wind. 

 Having eaten nothing since the previous morning, we 

 cooked our breakfast comfort4ibly on sliore, and left 

 about noon, coasting along the two islands of this group, 

 wliich lie in \\w same line, and are separated by a narrow 

 channel. J5oih seem entirely formed of raised coral rock ; 

 hut there has been a subsequent subsidence, as shown 

 by the barrier reef which extends all along them at 

 varying distauces from the shore. This reef is sometimes 

 only marked by a line of breaker.^ when there is a little 

 swell on the sea ; in other places there is a ridge of dead 

 coral above the water, which is here and there high enough 

 to support a tew low bushes. This was the first example I 

 had Hiet with of a true barrier reef due to subsidence, as 

 has been so clearly shown by Mr. Darwin, In a sheltered 

 archipelago they will seldom be distinguishable, from 

 the absence of those huge rolling waves and breakers 

 which in the wide ocean tlnow up a barrier of broken 

 coral far above the usual high-water mark, while here they 

 rarely rise to the surface. 



On reaching the end of the southern island, called Uta, 

 we were kept waiting two days for a wind that would 

 enable ua to pass over to the next island, Teor, and I 

 began to despair of ever reaching K^, and determined on 

 refeuniing. We left with a south wind, which suddenly 

 changed to north-east, and induced me to turn again 

 southward in tlie hopes that this was t4ie commencement 

 of a few days' favourable weather. We sailed on very 



