- 14 
After a stay of a few days on East Island we loaded our oan$> gear 
in the motor boat, and with a small party, traveled west to another sand 
island several miles away, while the ship steamed slowly along to a 
new anohoiage opposite. We wound about among the reefs to our new 
station, where we had some difficulty In landing beoause of an ebbing tide 
that left little water over an offshore line of ooral. Finally the heavy 
motor boat grounded, but it was a simple matter to lighten her with men 
standing waist deep in the water and passing bundles from hand to hand 
ashore, fly nightfall our tents wore onoe more in line on a strip of 
open sand, with a huge oolony of sooty terns, that shattered and oried 
at ou * 1 * 
The days here in the main were cloudless except for transient 
showers of rain of a few minutes duration, The heat was tempered by 
the mild breath of the trades and hardened as we wore by exposure to 
weather, was not unpleasant. 
The nights were wonderful with a full moon that made it a pleasure 
to reoline on the warm sand, v?hile tales of caiqps and field oxperienoes 
in all parts of the world went the rounds. The finely ground coral and 
shell was washed 30 clean that it was a delimit to dig in it with hands 
and bare feet as it brushed away, leaving no sediment of dirt whatever. 
