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C H A P . stood on until sunset, and shortened sail within three or four miles to
. , windward of it.
Nov. Ducie’s Island is of coral formation, of an oval form, with a lagoon or
lake, iu the centre, which is partly enclosed by trees, and partly by low
coral flats scarcely above the water’s edge. The height of the soil upon
the island is about twelve feet, above which the trees rise fourteen more,
making its greatest elevation about twenty-six feet from the level of the
sea. The lagoon appears to be deep, and has an entrance into it for a
boat, when the water is sufficiently smooth to admit of passing over
the bar. It is situated at the south-east extremity, to the right of two
eminences that have the appearance of sand-hills. The island lies in a
north-east and south-west direction,—is one mile and three quarters
long, and one mile wide. No living things, birds excepted, were seen
upon the island ; but its environs appeared to abound in fish, and
sharks were very numerous. The water was so clear over the coral,
that the bottom w'as distinctly seen when no soundings could be had
with thirty fathoms of line; in twenty-four fathoms, the shape of the
rocks at the bottom was clearly distinguished. The corallines were of
various colours, principally white, sulphur, and lilac, and formed into
all manner of shapes, giving a Hvely and variegated appearance to the
bottom; but they soon lost their colour after being detached.
By the soundings round this little island it appeared, for a certain
distance, to take the shape of a truncated cone having its base
downwards. The north-eastern and south-western extremities are
furnished with points which project under water with less inclination
than the sides of the island, and break the sea before it can reach the
barrier to the little lagoon formed within. It is singular that these
buttresses are opposed to the only two quarters whence their structure
has to apprehend danger; that on the north-east, from the constant
action of the trade-wind, and that on the other extremity, from the
long rolling swell from the south-w'est, so prevalent in these latitudes ;
and it is worthy of observation, that this barrier, which has the most
powerful enemy to oppose, is carried out much farther, and with less
abruptness, than the other.
The sand-mounds raised upon the barrier are confined to the
eastern and north-western sides of the lagoon, the south-western part cH A P
being left low, and broken by a channel of water. On the rocky sur-
face of the causeway, between the lake and the sea, lies a stratum of
Nov.
dark rounded particles, probably coral, and above it another, apparently
1825.
composed of decayed vegetable substances. A variety of evergreen
trees take root in this bank, and form a canopy almost impenetrable
to the sun's rays, and present to the eye a grove of the
liveliest green.
As soon as we had finished our observations on Ducie’s Island, and
completed a plan of it, we made sail to the westward. I ’he island soon
neared the horizon, and when seven miles distant ceased to be visible
from the deck. For several days afterwards the winds were so light,
that we made but slow progress ; and as we lay-to every night, in order
that nothing might be passed in the dark, our daily run was trifling.
On the 30th, we saw a great number of white tern, which at sunset
directed their flight to the N. YV. At noon on the 2d of December,
flocks of gulls and tern indicated the vicinity of land, which
a few hours afterwards was seen from the mast-head at a considerable
distance. At daylight on the 3rd, we closed with its south-western
end, and despatched two boats to make the circuit of the island, while
the ship ranged its northern shore at a short distance, and waited for
them off a sandy bay at its north-west extremity.
YVe found that the island differed essentially from all others in its
vicinity, and belonged to a peculiar formation, very few instances of
which are in existence. YY"ateo and Savage Islands, discovered by
Captain Cook, are of this number, and perhaps also Malden Island,
visited by Lord Byron in the Blonde. The island is five miles in
length, and one in breadth, and has a flat surface nearly eighty feet
above the sea. On all sides, except the north, it is bounded by
perpendicular cliffs about fifty feet high, composed entirely of dead
coral, more or less porous, honeycombed at the surface, and hardening
into a compact calcareous substance within, possessing the fracture of
secondary limes.tone, and has a species of millcpore interspersed through
it. These cliffs are considerably undermined by the action of the
waves, and some of them appear on the eve of precipitating their super-
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