Raef » 
Directly to the northwest of Lay son* distant 255 nautical miles* 
is the atoll known as Pearl and Hermes iteef named from two ships, the 
Pear l and the Herme s that, traveling separately, ohanoed to strike and 
founder here on the same night, an event that will live long in the 
memory of every sailor man* On charts of these dangerous shoals, avail¬ 
able in 1923, was shown a curving line of ooral ten or twelve miles long, 
open to entrance only on the north, but in a cruise along the southern 
margin the Tanager discovered several openings that gave easy access to 
the small islands inside* There were five of these in all, three along 
the south near the boundary reef, and two more toward the center* All 
were small, of irregular form and low elevation so that in heavy gales 
they must be swept by the sea* At most they rise only fifteen to eighteen 
feet above high water mark, and in many places are lower* They are com¬ 
posed of the usual ooral sand built up on a foundation of limestone with 
heavy growths of bunch grass and a few other plants on their summits. As 
these islands are sonll in extent and on the whole little different from 
others we did not land camping parties on them but worked from the ship 
coming ashore each day. 
Southeast Island, the most extensive of the lot, was reached after 
a mildly exciting passage through the surf in a break in the reef* On 
landing we found the usual colonies of breeding albatross, terns, boobies, 
and shearwaters* the first mentioned with well grown young as woolly as so 
many lambs. At one side was the site of a oanp three or four years old 
and beside it a cairn of stones marking the grave of a Japanese, but with 
no indication as to why these people had come here* Apparently they had 
