1 6 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



versed. We see other wide spaces slowly sinking without any 

 volcanic outburst, and we may well feel sure that this sinking 

 must have been immense in amount as well as area, thus to have 

 buried over the broad face of the ocean every one of those 

 mountains above which atolls now stand like monuments 

 marking the place of their former existence.' 



Thus on the island-mountain of Taviuni Ave find the remains 

 of an extinct volcano. Taviuni has perhaps reached its eleva- 

 tion ; while, on the other hand, the fringed-reef Samoan Islands 

 are in the immediate vicinity of several submarine volcanoes. 

 About fourteen years ago the water to the eastern end of the 

 Samoan (or Navigators') Islands was seen to be much agitated ; 

 a dense mass of steam rose from the surface, and the water was 

 found to be boiling hot. 



With the subsidence of the atoll islands in the Pacific comes 

 a proportionate rising of other parts of the world, notably on 

 the western coast of South America, which forms the greatest 

 volcanic chain in the world ; and Dr. Darwin states that not 

 only is this rising of the South American coast a well-known 

 geological fact, but that certain islands to the north-west of the 

 Pacific, especially some of the Philippines and Loo-choo Islands, 

 have extensive strata of a modern date. 



It has been noticed that the action of the submarine volcanoes 

 and consequent elevation of the earth has been followed by 

 that tremendous agitation of the water called a ' tidal wave.' 

 This great heaving of the bed of the ocean is felt all over the 

 Pacific, north to south, east to west, and especially on the coast 

 of South America. It sweeps away some of the atolls and 

 affects the fringed-reef groups, while it is hardly noticeable in 

 those possessed of barrier-reefs. 



Thus in May, 1877, when I was sailing in a cutter in the Fiji 

 Group, there was a terrible wave which swept away thousands 



