These are perfectly flat, and are only covered at high water, ending in craggy vertical walls of coral in very deep water.
When there is a little wind, it is dangerous to come near these rocks; but luckily it was quite smooth, so we moored to their edge, while the men crawled over the reef to the land, to make; a fire and cook our dinner-the boat having no accommodation for more than heating water for my morning and evening coffee.

We then rowed along the edge of the reef to the end of the island, and were glad to get a nice westerly breeze, which carried us over the strait to the island of Makian, where we arrived about 8 P.M, The sky was quite clear, and though the moon shone brightly, the comet appeared with quite as much splendour as when we first saw it.
The coasts of these small islands are very different according to their geological formation.

The volcanoes, active or extinct, have steep black beaches of volcanic sand, or are fringed with rugged masses of lava and basalt.

Coral is generally absent, occurring only in small patches in quiet bays, and rarely or never forming reefs.

Ternate, Tidore, and Makian belong to this class.