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by filling in the cracks and crevices and converting the mass into solid limestone. Polyps are a temperamental, warm natured sort, and refuse to produce in waters colder than 68°F. Hence why you're so near the equator. If you swim off Ulithi, you'll notice on the bottom that the sea colonies are still growing and forming more island material.

In all, there are thirty land areas which comprise the above-surface topography of Ulithi. In appearence, it looks something like a mushroom with a broken stem or a disheveled necklace. It is east of Yap, southwest of Guam, and north of the Palaus, and 19½ miles long and 9½ miles wide at the northern and broadest part. No matter how small it may seem, it's the largest atoll in the Carolines group.

There are four large islands, and a number of submerged reefs which project only a few inches above the water line. Asor, Mogmog, Sorlen, and Fassarai are the major land masses; Lossau, Mangejang, and Song are smaller but habitable. Despite its proximity, the island of Falalop is not actually a part of the atoll, but attached to a separate reef. It will be considered as a part of Ulithi in discussions here, however, forgiving its singular isolation. The lagoon enclosed within the atoll is approximately 85 square miles of the best anchorage in the Pacific, capable of holding a thousand ships. The entrance to the lagoon is to the leeward, a common occurance for atolls, since the coral-building animals live on the windward sides, where the sea breeze pushes their food to them.

History of a Rock

The history of Ulithi is limited. The evidence of archaeology indicates that the Western Carolines were initially

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