Chap, xiv.] STRUCTURE OF RAINE ISLAND. 



299 



I had an opportunity of watching the expressions of the Api 

 men on board during the voyage. During their whole stay 

 they had a pecuhar dejected look, and, like the lower order of 

 Fijians, a marked want of expression in conversing with one 

 another. In laughing they were affected and chUdlike, or 

 girlish, hiding their faces with their hands. The hands in 

 doing this were half-clasped, the face turned away on one side, 

 and the clasped hands held over the shoulder in front of the 

 face, just as in the case of a shy child. Often the thumb was 

 held in the mouth, the hand half-hiding the face in laughter. 

 I heard no loud laughter, but a steady look at one of the men 

 nearly always called forth a grin, which expression was used 

 invariably to show consciousness of being gazed at. The fore- 

 head muscles were little used. When the men were talking 

 amongst themselves their faces showed little expression. When 

 a little excited they ran their voices up into a sort of affected 

 falsetto. 



Amongst the men on shore I noticed a shrugging of one 

 shoulder, the head being leant over towards the same side, 

 constantly used to express disinclination to accept proftered 

 barter, and a pouting of the lip, the under lip being much 

 thrown up, was used at the same time, or alone, to express the 

 same meaning. To signify " Farewell," the hand was held up, 

 palm outwards, and with the fingers extended. 



Raine Island, August 31st, 1874. — The ship passed Raine 

 Island on the afternoon of August 30th, and anchoring about 

 five miles off, under the lee of a reef, returned and landed a 

 party on the island next day. A very full account of Raine 

 Island is given by Jukes.* The island is at the entrance of 

 the most usually employed passage through the Great Barrier 

 Reef of North Eastern Australia. It is about three-quarters of 

 a mile long, and composed of calcareous sand rock, closely 

 similar to that of Bermuda, excepting that it is remarkably 

 evenly bedded. 



The strata dip towards the shores with a slight inclination. 

 I measured the dip on the north-east side of the island, near 

 the beacon, and found it 7°. I cannot say whether it is 

 uniform all round the island. Towards the centre the strata 

 seemed to be horizontal. Jukes observed a similar dipping 

 of the strata in Heron Island,t but does not mention it as 

 occurring at Raine Island. This condition would arise from 

 the island being formed as a single low sand dune, in which 

 consolidation subsequently took place; though I do not see 

 why a series of smaller dunes and ridges should not have been 



* "The Voyage of the 'Fly,'" Vol. I., pp. 126 and 338. 



t Ibid., p. 7. 



