526 Transactions. — Geology. 



ceded by repeated shocks of earthquake. It is not known 

 whether a shoal has since been formed. The water was 

 previously deep. 



Earthquakes occur occasionally in Samoa, but have not 

 caused much damage. On the 16th March, 1889, the great 

 hurricane at Apia wrecked the German warships " Ebor," 

 " Olga," "Adler," and " Nipsic," and the American ships 

 "Trenton" and "Vadalia," Captain Kane, in H.M.S. "Cal- 

 liope," steaming out in the teeth of the gale. No one attri- 

 buted this misfortune to an earthquake. 



I mention these matters now so as to warn our seamen 

 to up-anchor and away from Apia whenever, in March, the 

 weather looks threatening. Even in January I have expe- 

 rienced the tail end of a hurricane in Apia. January to 

 March are dangerous months in the Pacific. 



Aporima, or Apolima, a small volcanic island, and Savaii, 

 rising 5,000 ft., contain many extinct craters. 



In Fiji volcanic action has not entirely ceased, but there 

 are no active craters. Violent earthquake shocks are some- 

 times felt, and at Wainunu and Na Saru Saru on Vanua 

 Levu, and also on the Island of^ Ngau, there are boiling 

 springs. 



Eotumah (latitude 177" 10' E.) is entirely volcanic, several 

 exhausted craters being found there, but no trace of eruption 

 for many years past; large and old trees growing and flourish- 

 ing at the mouth of the principal crater. The surface of 

 Eotumah is chiefly covered with scoria and ashes, among 

 which lies a scanty but very productive soil. 



The chains of the EUice, Gilbert, and Marshall Islands, 

 lying between the parallels of longitude included in my table 

 — 170° to 180° east longitude — look very volcanic in their 

 origin. So does the semicircle of islands forming the La- 

 drone Group ; also the trend of the islands south-east to 

 north-west from and including the Sandwich Islands. It is 

 much the same with the Caroline Islands, Paumotus, Society 

 Islands, Cook and Austral Groups. The whole of these 

 islands it will be noticed, including New Guinea, the Solo- 

 mons, New Caledonia, and others, trend to the north-west ; 

 so do Java and Sumatra. Many of the atolls and sunken 

 reefs awash trend also south - east to north - west. It is 

 quite remarkable how constant this trending is all through 

 the Pacific Islands. 



On the other hand, Japan, the Kurile Islands, Kam- 

 chatka, and the Aleutian Islands trend to the north-east, as 

 if in the original cooling of the planet the present ocean- 

 bed of the Pacific set that way. It is as if internal volcanic 

 energy expends itself in opposite directions like atmospheric 

 storms in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres ; or 



