situated in the South Seas, which Captain Cook visited in his second and last voyages. It consists of a group of small islets, nine or ten in number, connected by a reef of coral rocks, and lying in a circular direction. It admits of no anchorage, nor are there any inhabitants on it, though it abounds with cocoa-nuts, soury-grafts, and the wharra-tree. This island is not more than a mile in circumference, and is not elevated above three feet above the level of the sea. It consists entirely of a coral sand, with a small mixture of blackish mould, which appeared to be produced from rotten vegetables.

"At one part of the reef (say our navigators), which bounds the lake within, almost even with the surface, there was a large bed of coral, which afforded a most enchanting prospect. Its base, which was fixed to the shore, extended so far that it could not be seen, so that it appeared to be suspended in the water. Even this delightful scene was greatly improved by the multitude of fishes that gently glided along, seemingly with the most perfect security. Their colours were the most beautiful that can be imagined, blue, yellow, black, red, &c. far excelling anything that can be produced by art. The richness of this submarine grotto was greatly increased by their various forms; and the whole could not possibly be surveyed without a pleasing transport, accompanied at the same time with regret, that a work so astonishingly elegant should be concealed in a place so seldom explored by the human eye." E. Long. 196. 35. S. Lat. 18. 8.