W. S.W. wind blowing, which just allowed us to lay across to the
Matabello Islands, a distance little short of twenty miles. I did not
much like the look of the heavy sky and rather rough sea, and my men
were very unwilling to make the attempt; but as we could scarcely hope
for a better chance, I insisted upon trying. The pitching and jerking of
our little boat, soon reduced me to a state of miserable helplessness,
and I lay down, resigned to whatever might happen. After three or four
hours, I was told we were nearly over; but when I got up, two hours
later, just as the sun was setting, I found we were still a good
distance from the point, owing to a strong current which had been for
some time against us. Night closed in, and the wind drew more ahead,
so we had to take in sail. Then came a calm, and we rowed and sailed
as occasion offered; and it was four in the morning when we reached the
village of Kisslwoi, not having made more than three miles in the last
twelve hours.

MATABELLO ISLANDS.

At daylight I found we were; in a beautiful little harbour, formed by a
coral reef about two hundred yards from shore, and perfectly secure in
every wind. Having eaten nothing since the previous morning, we cooked
our breakfast comfortably on shore, and left about noon, coasting along
the two islands of this group, which lie in the same line, and are
separated by a narrow channel. Both seem entirely formed of raised
coral rock; but them has been a subsequent subsidence, as shaven by the
barrier reef which extends all along them at varying distances from the
shore, This reef is sometimes only marked by a. line of breakers when
there is a little swell on the sea; in other places there is a ridge
of dead coral above the water, which is here and there high enough to
support a few low bushes. This was the first example I had met with of a
true barrier reef due to subsidence, as has been so clearly shown by Mr.
Darwin. In a sheltered archipelago they will seldom be distinguishable,
from the absence of those huge rolling waves and breakers which in
the wide ocean throw up a barrier of broken coral far above the usual
high-water mark, while here they rarely rise to the surface.

On reaching the end of the southern island, called Uta, we were kept
waiting two days for a wind that would enable us to pass over to the
next island, Teor, and I began to despair of ever reaching Ke, and
determined on returning. We left with a south wind, whic