358 Geological Society. 



on the water-line, 20 feet beam, and drawing lO'S feet aft, 

 was accordingly completed by the end of 1912, and she sailed 

 from Southampton in February 1913 with a company of twelve 

 all told, of whom four formed the scientific staff. After the 

 longest voyage ever made by a yacht under canvas, she sailed 

 into Southampton again in June 1916, without having experienced 

 accident to man or material. 



The course taken was through the Magellan Straits, and thence 

 through the labj'rinth of Andean Avaterways that stretch north 

 therefrom, and are known as the Patagonian Channels. 



On reaching Juan Fernandez Island, the ' Mana ' had to put 

 back to Valparaiso because the geologist of the Expedition, the 

 late Mr. F. L. Corry, had contracted typhoid fever on the Chilean 

 coast. Mr. Corry never recovered sutiiciently to allow him to 

 rejoin the Expedition. Hence no formal geological report on 

 the island could be submitted to the Meeting. It was thought 

 best, therefore, to endeavour to convey the conditions existent on 

 Easter Island by means of a series of panoramic and other photo- 

 graphs, specially taken to illustrate geological features. As these 

 very largely consist of coast-sections, the opportunity was taken to 

 show, and explain, other pictures that were closely associated with 

 them. Such were the ruins of the village called Orongo, consisting 

 of peculiar canoe-shaped houses built of imbricated slabs of shale, 

 with the roof convex, both longitudinally and transversely, on its 

 exterior aspect, and covered with earth. They are romantically 

 situated on the rim of the volcano of liano Kao, with an almost 

 sheer drop of 900 feet into the sea, or of 600 feet into the crater- 

 lake. At Orongo, too, are found certain large rocks, carved with 

 the symbol of a bird-headed man, holding in its hand an eg^. A 

 cult, based on annually obtaining the first-laid e^^ of a certain 

 migratory sea-bird, was thus gradually brought to light, and appears 

 to be a unique form. A brief outline only could be given of 

 some of the knowledge obtained concerning the peculiar routine 

 associated with seeking, and taking, the sacred e^^, and of the part 

 which it occupied in the former religious life of the island. 



Proceeding along the coast, typical examples of the great terraces, 

 and their giant stone figures, were shown, and their leading cha- 

 racteristics discussed. A submarine freshwater spring, near the 

 great image-terrace of Tongariki, and opposite certain typical 

 lava-formed caves, gave occasion to the lecturer to explain how 

 had arisen the longstanding, and world-wide spread report, that 

 man and beast on Easter Island habitually di-ink sea-water, in the 

 place of fresh. 



The old volcano of Rano Earaku, the centi-e of the former 

 religious life of the island, was then described. A series of 

 panoramic pictures, preceded by an accurate survey made by 

 Lieut. R. D. Ritchie, R.N., the Cartographer of the Expedition, 

 showed a cmter-lake surrounded by a rim of tuff which rises to a 

 height of 5-10 feet above the surrounding j)lain. The plain is 

 undulating in surface, formed superficially of hard, dense, but 

 nevertheless vesicular, lava, and it rests on compact non-columnar 



