482 THE CONTINENTAL ORIGIN OF FIJI, 



sides. The summit of this hill is flat, and is formed by the last 

 small patch of a bed of limestone 5 feet in thickness, containing 

 numerous corals. This bed has an altitude of 510 feet (aneroid) 

 above sea-level. 



From Natuatuacoko to Lebaleba, the head of canoe-navigation 

 of the river, there are reddish soapstone-like tuffs with steep dips, 

 probably due to folding. 



From the latter town to Rarayaka the journey was accomplished 

 in a canoe on the heavily flooded river, so that geological obser- 

 vations were out of the question. With the exception of a patch 

 near Qalimari, the rocks are all tuffs, coarse and fine. In parts 

 the bedding appears extraordinarily twisted, and in some cases 

 seems to be overfolded to form loops. This may possibly be 

 spheroidal weathering, but, if so, the scale on which it occurs 

 must be enormous, some of the loops being fully 30 to 40 feet in 

 diameter. 



For several miles in the neighbourhood of Qalimari the eastern 

 bank is formed by cliffs of hard white limestone, rising to a 

 height of over 1000 feet above the river. In places, at any rate, 

 this is highly silicified, as chalcedonic nodules are numerous. A 

 chemical analysis of a portion of it, made at the Adelaide Uni- 

 versity, shows that it is on the whole an exceedingly pure lime- 

 stone, so that the silica must be very local. No dip could be 

 observed from the river. Andrews (p. 13 of his Report) has 

 described these limestones as dolomites, which they certainly 

 resemble very strikingly. Analysis shows that they contain 

 about 98% CaCOg. Andrews regards them as older than the 

 upraised reefs of the Cuvu-Sigatoka area. 



From Ptarayaka to the coast at Vatukarasa the rocks are all 

 tuffs, agglomerates, and lavas. Along the coast the section was 

 not continued on account of very bad weather. The collections 

 made from Rarayaka onwards were unfortunately lost. They 

 contained some very remarkable, bright green, hard tuff from the 

 south coast. 



