. The coral reefs of the tropical Pacific. Albatross (Steamer); Coral reefs and islands. 1^ ALBATROSS" TEOPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. coral sand islands and islets have been thrown up on the outer faces of the reef flats. The fringing and barrier reefs which surround a large island like Tahiti, having a diameter of over thirty miles, and summits reaching a height of mors than 7300 feet, appear narrow and unimportant when compared suc- cessively to the barrier reefs and reef flats fringing much smaller islands, as Murea, Raiatea, Huaheine, Bora Bora, and Maupiti, which respectively attain he
. The coral reefs of the tropical Pacific. Albatross (Steamer); Coral reefs and islands. 1^ ALBATROSS" TEOPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. coral sand islands and islets have been thrown up on the outer faces of the reef flats. The fringing and barrier reefs which surround a large island like Tahiti, having a diameter of over thirty miles, and summits reaching a height of mors than 7300 feet, appear narrow and unimportant when compared suc- cessively to the barrier reefs and reef flats fringing much smaller islands, as Murea, Raiatea, Huaheine, Bora Bora, and Maupiti, which respectively attain heights of about 4000, 3400, 2300, 2200, and 800 feet. It is but a step from such an island as Maupiti, where the central island is reduced to a height of 800 feet to islands like Motu Iti and Tetiaroa, where the central volcanic nucleus has entirely disappeared, and is repre- sented by the flat of volcanic rocks which probably underlies the platform upon which the coral sand islands and islets of these groups have been thrown up. It is interesting to note that in Maupiti the southern and western reef flats are covered with masses of volcanic rocks, the outliers of former volcanic islets and islands once occupying the outer rim of Maupiti. In the Atlas of the " Voy- age de la Coquille " we find an excellent view of the peaks of Bora Bora (PI. 16) taken from the lagoon at about the place where we anchored off Vaitape. On Plate 17 is given a panoramic view of the islets on the reef flats of the northern face of the island, with Raiatea in the distance. This view is taken from the summit of Pahia which Lesson ascended ; it has been copied by Darwin on p. 3 of the " Structure and Distribution of Coral ; On Plate 18 an excellent view of Maupiti from inside the lagoon is Summits of Bora Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these i
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