Excerpt from The Coral Reefs of the Tropical Pacific, Vol. 28
While in charge of the expedition of the United States Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross" during the winter of 1899-1900 we visited the coral reef districts of the tropical Pacific, with the exception of the Sandwich, the Samoan Islands, and the Galapagos. The Hawaiian Islands I had explored on former occasions, and had also obtained a bird's-eye view of the reefs of Samoa on my way to examine the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.
It has thus been my good fortune to observe the structure of the great majority of the coral reefs, atolls, and coral islands of the tropical Pacific, and to have the benefit of the excellent charts published since the days of Darwin and Dana. One cannot overestimate the great advantages to be derived from recent surveys in studying groups of coral islands like the Fiji or the Society Islands. The charts and "Sailing Directions" contain an amount of information which no one individual could hope to bring together, and their publication has made it possible for an observer to cover an immense area and obtain within a reasonable time an insight into the structure of the coral reefs of an oceanic realm like the Pacific.
In this, as in preceding Reports, I have limited myself to an exposition and explanation of the observations made in each of the coral reef districts examined, and have only made such comparisons between the various groups as seemed essential to the proper understanding of the Report.
These investigations on coral reefs date back to 1877; they have now covered the principal coral reefs and islands of the Pacific, the West Indies, and the Indian Ocean. The earlier reports were mainly descriptive, and limited to statements that the facts observed did not seem to confirm Darwin's theory of the structure and formation of coral reefs.
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