550 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
not easy to conjecture. The islets are here very numer¬ 
ous and closely approximated, and over a large area 
these have been built up in their entire circumference with 
high sea-walls composed of natural basaltic prisms of large * 
size. The effect produced is that of a vast series of 
canals—“ a Pacific Venice/ 5 as it has been termed by a 
traveller. These canals vary in width from 30 to 100 
feet or more, and it is worthy of note that the walls, in 
many cases, have their bases submerged to some little 
depth—a fact which has led some observers to the not 
very certain conclusion that the land has sunk since 
their erection. On many of the islets raised platforms 
constructed of the same materials are to be seen. 
The main building above mentioned demands separate 
consideration. It has been well described in his Atolls 
and Islands by Mr. F. J. Moss, who gives a ground-plan 
of it with measurements and a photograph of a portion 
of the wall. It may be roughly described as a massive 
quadrangle with sides about 200 feet in length, within 
which is another of smaller area, centrally placed, and 
enclosing in its turn a covered vault, behind which is 
erected a raised platform. The walls both of the outer 
and inner courts are provided with a western entrance 
15 feet in width, and there are three other vaults placed 
between the outer and inner walls on the north, east, and 
south sides respectively. The walls of both the quad¬ 
rangles are about 20 feet high, but while those of the 
inner have a uniform thickness of 10 feet, those of the 
outer are 18 feet thick at the base and only 8 feet in 
their upper part, so that a sort of terrace 10 feet wide is 
formed, which runs round the entire inner side at about 
6 feet from the ground. The material of which these 
walls are composed is the same as that of those forming 
the canals, namely, natural basaltic prisms, without mortar, 
