The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1912-07-20
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Ash and bird life. The sea bird population alone
probably cannot be equaled in any other part of
the world. Tens of millions Of feathered fowl
make their home on these lonely specks of land,
repairing th1ther each year in countless focks
to establish roOkeries and to rear their young.
The reefs and waters about the islands fairly
swarm with fish and other forms of life, so that
they really form densely populated natural
logical garden.
To the naturalist the out-of-door enthusiast, the
nature study photographer or the man who sim
ply loves out-ofthe-way places and the unusual
and novel, these islands leave little to be desired.
A chance to run down along this chain is the
opportunity of lifetime and bound to result In
a really worth while experience-one that will
live fresh In the memory long after the details
OF other trips and experiences have been mingled
with the commonplace of life
Unfortunately. at present, visiting the islands
in the reservation Is not the simple matter that
1t should be, nor that it is hoped it may be made
in time. In former years the operations of a
guano company, then engaged in exploiting the
guano or bird lime deposits on the islands made
1t possible by invitation, to make the journey to
Laysan Island from Honolulu during the summer
months in one Of the company's sailing vessels.
While the islands of the chain all different
from each other and all intensely interesting,
Layson is in certain sense typical OF most of
them. 1t is a raised coral atoll approximately two
miles across that in general form has been
pared to broad, shallow platter composed en-
tlrely or sand or raised coral reef not more than
40 feet about the at the highest point on the
sand rim which completely surrounds the salt
water lagoon that occupies the central part of the
Island This lagoon is Of special interest since
Its water contains more salt than does that of the
open sea. This interesting fact tells much of the
geological history Of the island and points unmis-
takably to the origin of the land. It shows it to
be a circular coral atoll that at the time of it's
elevation above the sea carried the water Of the
lagoon up to it's present level. Since that time
and it must have been very long ago, the waters
have evaporated to extent and left that
which remains more concentrated and salty than
1t was when the island first made. About the
edge of the lagoon the Doggy earth is covered with
crystals Of salt mixed with chips of guano. This
shell-llke substance sparkes in the and sug-
gests band Of silver at the waters edge. About
this barren ring is narrow band covered with
low creeping vines. Back of this again Is growth
or ]uncas which is backed up in turn by a ring
OF low bushes The prevailing plant of the island,
however, is a kind of coarse bunch grass that
grows three or four feet high More than a score
of plants have found footing there during the
long period that has elapsed since the dry land
first rose, so that at the time of it's discovery and
indeed, the occasion Of my first visit for
sand island 1t was well supplied with low
growth of hardy vines, grass and shrubs Unfor-
tunately the introduction of rabbits on the island
has marked sad change since then.