122 FUNAFUTI: A SEQUEL 



dents encountered in making the first of the successful 

 borings is a veritable epic.* This contest between the 

 powers of Nature and human enterprise was waged 

 strenuously on both sides, and for a long time with vary- 

 ing success, victory inclining sometimes in one direction, 

 sometimes in the other ; and at one time, owing to a 

 failure on the part of the machinery, the evil genii seemed 

 to have got the upper hand, but at this crisis a cog-wheel, 

 which had been accidentally left behind by the previous 

 expedition, and had since lain buried at the foot of some 

 cocoanut trees as a charm to fertilise the ground, w T as 

 dug up by my old friend Tili, and this, when put to the 

 purpose for which it had been designed, gave splendid 

 proof of its magic powers. The mastery of the difficulty 

 accomplished by its means seems to have been the turning- 

 point in the campaign, and after this the boring steadily 

 advanced. When Professor David left the island to return 

 to Sydney its success was assured. It had then been sunk 

 537 feet. Under Mr. Sweet, who next took command, it 

 was deepened to 698 feet, and finally, as a result of a third 

 expedition, under the leadership of Mr. A. E. Finckh, it 

 attained the depth of 1,114'5 feet, or 185'75 fathoms, and 

 was then abandoned. 



For the first 637 feet the boring passed through similar 

 material to that encountered in the first boring, and 

 loosely cemented sand and gravel was in such excess that 

 the total quantity of solid core obtained amounted only 

 to 66 feet. The rock then changed in character, it became 

 soft, and, though still porous, less incoherent, so that 

 boring was comparatively easy. This continued down to 

 748 feet, when the rock again changed in character, be- 

 came hard and compact, though still cavernous enough to 

 produce a very destructive effect on the diamonds used in 

 boring. 



* Op. cit., pp. 40-60. 



