PACIFIC OCEAN. 
211 
long. 178° 30' W., on which the Gleclstanes was wrecked 
in 1837. It is apparently of large size, and extends in a 
N.W. and S.E. line : very few islets have been formed on it. 
The lagoon seems to be shallow ; at least, the deepest part 
which was surveyed was only three fathoms. Mr. Coutliouy 
(Eemarks, p. 38) describes this island under the name of 
Ocean Island. Considerable doubts should be entertained 
regarding the nature of a reef of this kind, with a very 
shallow lagoon, and standing far from any other atoll, on 
account of the possibility of a crater or flat bank of rock 
lying at the proper depth beneath the surface of the w r ater, 
having afforded a foundation for a ring-formed coral- 
reef. I have, however, thought myself compelled, from 
its large size and symmetrical outline, to colour it blue. 
Some information and references are given by Dana (Corals 
and Coral Islands, pp. 324, 365) with respect to the reefs 
and islets extending for 2,000 miles in a N.W. line from 
Hawaii. 
Samoa or Navigator Group. — Kotzebue, in his 
Second Voyage, contrasts these islands with many others 
in the Pacific, in not having harbours for ships, formed by 
distant coral-reefs. The Eev. J. Williams, however, informs 
me that coral-reefs do occur in irregular patches on the 
shores ; but that they do not form a continuous band as round 
Mangaia, and other such perfect cases of fringed islands. 
From the charts accompanying La Peyrouse’s Voyage, it 
appears that the north shore of Savaii, Maouna, Orosenga, 
and Manua are fringed by reefs. La Peyrouse, speaking 
of Maouna (p. 126), says that the coral-reef surrounding its 
shores almost touches the beach, and is breached in front 
of the little coves and streams, forming passages for canoes, 
and probably even for boats. Further on (p. 159) he ex- 
tends the same observation to all the islands which he 
visited. — Mr. Williams in his Narrative, speaks of a reef 
going round a small island attached to Oyolava, and return- 
