vii NGAINGAI 



the dome-shaped summit of Wawa Levu is seen in the sketch ; 

 and this is the more remarkable because it is not associated, as far 

 as I could ascertain, with any important difference in geological 

 character. Wawa Levu rises precipitously to a height of 900 or 

 1,000 feet above its base, and displays often perpendicular cliff- 

 faces on its sides. Its broad level soil-covered summit is mostly 

 covered with young wood, few of the trees having trunks more 

 than 4 inches in diameter, whilst they are usually clothed with 

 damp moss, and are often decayed and rotten. 1 True dacites, 



Profiles of Ngaingai and Wawa Levu from Nambuna to the south-west. Both are dacitic 



mountains. 



closely similar to those of the neighbouring Ngaingai and having 

 a specific gravity of 2*61, were displayed often in slab-like blocks 

 from the base to near the top. The rudely columnar structure to 

 be observed in some of the other hills is rarely exhibited. No other 

 rocks came under my notice. The remains of the stone walls of 

 two old " war-towns," one of them named " Ndaku-i-tonga," occur 

 on its south and south-east slopes. 



The other three hills of the Ngaingai group were not ascended 

 by me. They show the same bare cliff-faces and have to all ap- 

 pearance the same geological character. Mbona Lailai and Vatu 

 Kerimasi are two blunt-topped conical hills with precipitous slopes 

 that rise respectively about 900 and 700 feet above the country at 

 their base. Vatu Vanaya, about 500 feet in height, has a rounded 

 summit. 



THE NDRANDRAMEA GROUP OF HILLS. A view of these hills 

 from the westward is given in the accompanying illustration. 

 They have a lower elevation than the hills of the Ngaingai group, 

 none of them rising to over 1,800 feet above the sea, whilst their 



1 This absence of a healthy forest-growth, such as occurs on the level 

 summit of the neighbouring Soloa Levu and in all like situations, has probably 

 some geological significance. 



