640 Transactions. — Geology. 



the bay, to which we have referred, he thus wrote : ' Some of 

 our gentlemen attempted to ascend a hill at some distance, 

 with an intent of observing the volcano more distinctly, but 

 they were obliged to I'etreat precipitately, the ground under 

 them being so hot that they might as well have walked over 

 an oven. The smell, too, of the air was intolerably sulphur- 

 ous, which was occasioned by a smoke that issued from the 

 fissures of the earth.' In another place he remarks, ' On 

 Thursday, the 11th, during the night, the volcano was very 

 troublesome, and threw out great quantities of fire and smoke, 

 with a most tremendous noise ; and sometimes we saw great 

 stones thrown into the air. On the 12th the volcano was 

 more furious than ever, and we were much molested with 

 the ashes' ('Cook's Voyages,' folio edition, p. 168). Had we 

 been longer on the island we might probably have paid a night 

 visit to the volcano ; but it was a fine sight to look over from 

 our door, on a calm clear evening, to the brilliant display of 

 fireworks, which went blazing up every eight or ten minutes. 

 So far as we observed, that is the usual interval between the 

 eruptions night and day. The native name of the volcano 

 is Asur (Yasua). They have a tradition that it came from the 

 neighbouring island of Aneiteum ; and probably this may be 

 founded on some fact, as the extinction of a volcano on Anei- 

 teum being followed by the outbreak of this one on Tanna." 



Aneiteum is certainly volcanic, and rises some 2,700 ft. 

 above sea-level. It is only a few miles from Tanna. Earth- 

 quakes are frequent. On the 28th March, 1875, a severe 

 shock was felt, accompanied by a seismic wave, since which 

 date the volcano at Tanna has been unusually active. Anei- 

 teum is the most southern island of the New Hebridean 

 group. The kauri-pine grows here, as well as at Kandavu, in 

 Fiji. This island is slightly nearer New Zealand than Kan- 

 davu. Aneiteum, Kandavu, and Auckland form what I may 

 call the " triangle " of the kauri-pine; a problem I leave to 

 botanists. 



The Island of Futuna, to the east of Tanna, rises up out of 

 the sea like a great square table some 2,000 ft. high. The 

 missionary estimates of these heights are not exact. I regret 

 to say that neither the heights of the mountains nor the cir- 

 cumferences of the islands in the early missionary accounts 

 can be depended upon. They have often deceived me. Other- 

 wise the accounts are excellent and most praiseworthy. 



I wish to mention here that in May, 1845, Mr. Turner 

 visited Lifu (Loyalty Islands, not so very far from Tanna), 

 which he describes as " being probably eighty miles in circum- 

 ference, an uplifted coral formation, and covered with pines in 

 some places. The highest land on the island may be 300 ft. 

 above the level of the sea." Of Mare he says, " Mare is a 



