542 Transactions. — Geology. 



another 300 yards of the bottom was thrown upward, making 

 the entrance to the harbour very narrow. Across the har- 

 bour, a Uttle inside the entrance, there is now a bar, with 

 only 15 ft. of water, where formerly there was a depth of 

 5 to 5h fathoms. In some places near the shore the 

 bottom has been raised 20 ft., or even more, above the 

 sea. The whole harbour is so contracted by the upheaval 

 that it is doubtful if a large vessel could find room to swing in 

 it. At about a cable seaward from the west point of the 

 entrance three rocks have been thrown up in a position where 

 formerly there was 11 fathoms (66 ft.) of water. A high 

 hill near the rock named Cook's Pyramid, on the west side of 

 the entrance, fell into the sea. This made a new point of 

 land ; and Cook's Pyramid has been raised about 40 ft. A 

 patch of discoloured water, about a cable in extent — probably 

 a shoal formed by the earthquakes — has since been seen about 

 two miles north of the port. H.M.S. " Nelson," however, 

 obtained a sounding of 116 fathoms nearly in this position. 

 On the west side of the island the shock was scarcely felt, 

 and there was no seismic wave. From information supplied 

 by the British Consul at Noumea it appears that in August, 

 1878, about a fortnight after H.M. schooner " Renard " had 

 completed a resurvey of Port Resolution, rendered necessary 

 by these volcanic upheavals, another earthquake and exten- 

 sive upheaval took place. Cook's Pyramid disappeared, its 

 remains being made out with difficulty ; and though the 

 harbour has narrowed to about 200 yards, and the depth de- 

 creased considerably, there is still good anchorage for small 

 vessels in it, and fairly good shelter from south-east winds 

 for large vessels off the entrance. On the 28th March, 1875, an 

 earthquake and seismic wave visited Dillon Bay, Erromango. 

 The wave rolled large boulders of rock on to the beach, and 

 altered the depth and direction of the entrance to the river, 

 which has since silted up. The foreshore and most of the 

 terraces of Erromango consist chiefly of coral limestone, 

 showing considerable symptoms of upheaval, with here and 

 there a black volcanic rock. 



I should consider Mai, or Three Hills, Island, rising re- 

 spectively 1,850 ft., 1,450 ft., and 1,400 ft., and Api (Tasiko) 

 Island, with its three peaks, rising respectively 2,500 ft., 



at its proper contour where there is danger of much subsidence. It 

 appears to me to be a wonderful force most gently guided. That it is 

 principally thermal can be seen from the regularity of the steam pulsa- 

 tions t)oth in Captain Cook's and the Kev. Mr. Turner's accounts. So 

 that the volcanoes we possess not only keep the oceans on the surface of 

 the earth, but the crust of the earth itself " tnie to shape." I therefore 

 cannot follow Sir R. S. Ball's argument of the absorpiion of the oceans 

 by the planet in the short period he names. 



