04MIQM IS Um 
i 
* 
By E. H. Bryan* *&%* 
(hiraiecr* B*P,Meh©f Museum# 
author of 
Hawaiian. Satire letea. 
Ancient Hawaiian Life, 
American Iklynesi®# ©to* 
Canton Island is th® largest and most northed of th® Phoenix group# 
It lies 1690 nautical miles in a direction 80 degrees vest of south from 
Honolulu* Its northwestern point is 166 miles south of the equator* 
Th® island is as atoll* made up of a Ion* narrow* rim of land surrounding 
a large shallow lagoon* Its shape has been likened to that of a pork chop. 
It la four and a half miles wide on the west* from which it narrows to the 
southeast point* which is nine miles away from the northwest point* 
The rim of land varies in width from 60 to 600 yards* and in height 
from fire to t w enty feet* The ocean beaeh rises steeply from its fringing 
reef to a crest* within which the surface is fairly level and smooth* The 
beaoh is composed alternately of coral sand and broken fragments of reef rook* 
On the lagoon side the beaoh Is lower* in places with white sand running out 
onto the fringing reef* 
( 
Much of the rim is nearly bare or sparsely covered with low herbs and bunch- 
grass* A stretch of about two miles on the south side supports a thick stand 
of Soaevola shrubs* eight to twelve feet high* There also are small patches of 
wiry Suriana shrubs near the lagoon shore at the northwest and southeast ends* 
Half a dozen email dumps of heliotrope and kou trees* and ten grown eocosut 
palms make up the balance of the conspicuous vegetation* aspecies in all* 
Below* in the detailed discussion of the natural history* these plants will be 
described* 
Into the lagoon there are four entrances* all on the west side* The most 
northern* which ran in 1924* when the author first visited Canton* is turn dry* 
The middle two are blocked by reefs and rocks* The southern entrance has deep 
water through the rim, but inside it is blocked by coral heads and reefs* which 
fern a network chocking the entire western portion ©f the lagoon* Th® wide, clear 
