PITTI SANDBANK 181 



tame, and came to be fed in such numbers that one 

 could catch them in a handkerchief. The sea-perch 

 i^Dules tceniura) I also saw in all the drinking- 

 fountains of this island. 



I had to do all my exploring and collecting at 

 Aucutta in two short hours of daylight, for early next 

 morning the ship was away sounding to the east and 

 south, not to return. 



The following evening (November 20th) we landed 

 on Pitti Island, which for some reasons is one of the 

 most interesting spots in the whole archipelago, 

 although unfortunately my acquaintance with it is only 

 such as I could make in one miserable half-hour of 

 fading light. 



Pitti, which cannot be much more than an acre 

 wide, is a steep crater-shaped hillock of sand and 

 coral-shingle, as bare as a cinder-heap, lying at the 

 southern end of a large submerged atoll, on its 

 extreme outer edge, so that the water on its seaward 

 side is extremely deep. From the ship it looked like 

 a barren sandbank and nothing more, but as our 

 landing-party drew near, the boat suddenly became 

 enveloped in a dense crowd of shrieking sea-birds. At 

 first we thought that they had come to attack us, 

 and that they could only be trying to alight on our 

 heads and shoulders with the evil intention of picking 

 out our eyes, but we soon found that they had merely 

 come out of curiosity, to have a look at us. I am 



