Phillips. — On the Volcanoes of the Pacific. 197 



an earthquake such as that of 1854: would form as big a 

 tidal wave as the great and general former upheaval I refer to 

 in the islands of the Pacific. 



In the boat-cove at the entrance to Vavau Harbour I saw 

 fractures in the coral caused by upheaval, but these may 

 only have been local. The terraces at Cape Quiros, in 

 Espiritu Santo (New Hebrides), should be counted, as these 

 terraces may represent successive upheavals. 



The following is the account of the Tacoma disaster : 

 " More complete details relative to the Tacoma disaster are 

 given in a Router's telegram dated Tacoma, Washingtou, 

 29th November. A mysterious accident which resulted in 

 great damage to property occurred here last night. At 

 11 o'clock a loud roaring was heard, like that preceding 

 the advance of a tidal wave, and 600 ft. of the docks sud- 

 denly disappeared into the bay. Two steamers were dis- 

 abled and sunk. The ground in the vicinity subsided to the 

 extent of 6 in. to 1ft., causing a panic and stampede among 

 the crowd which had collected in the vicinity. The cattle- 

 pens of the Northern Pacific Railway, and the company's 

 offices, besides a freight-house 1,400 ft. in length, collapsed, 

 the last mentioned catching fire. Various theories are ad- 

 vanced as to the cause of the disaster. The steamboat men 

 maintain that it was due to a tidal wave 25 ft. in height, 

 while others assert that, owing to a submarine land-slide, a 

 great fissure or hole was formed beneath the bay, causing 

 the docks to be swallowed up. Two lives were lost." 



I ought, perhaps, now to refer to Easter Island. We all 

 know of the stone images there, 5 ft. to 37 ft. high, but usually 

 15 ft. to 18 ft. These are all cut out of a grey compact lava 

 found in the crater of Hotuiti, at the east end of the island, 

 where there are still many in an unfinished state. Their 

 shape is the human trunk, terminating at the hips, the arms 

 close to the sides, the hands sculptured in low relief, and clasp- 

 ing the hips. The head is flat, and the top of the forehead 

 cut off level, so as to allow the crown, which is made of red 

 tuff (found in the Te Rano Kao crater), to be put on. The 

 face is square, massive, and sternly disdainful in expression, 

 the aspect always upwards. Easter Island is volcanic, and 

 has numerous extinct craters rising from different parts of the 

 island, none of which have been active for a long time. The 

 red tuff found in the Te Rano crater, from which the crown of 

 the images are made, shows previous submarine volcanic 

 origin ; calc. tuff — which I suppose this red tuff to mean — ■ 

 being a mineral nearly identical with limestone and marble. 

 The statement of the present inhabitants of Easter Island 

 that their ancestors cut these images need not be credited. 

 As already mentioned, my opinion is that the images were cut 



