XIII 



THE SALT LAKE 195 



Near the centre of the lake there is a low islet, some 40 paces 

 across, and only raised about a foot above the level of the lake at 

 the time of high-water. It is chiefly made up of coral blocks ; but 

 there are a few fragments of basaltic andesite lying about, which 

 were probably brought there by natives. This islet is mentioned 

 in Mrs. Smythe's account 1 of the visit made by Colonel Smythe to 

 the lake in i860 ; and by reason of its little elevation it may be 

 accepted as a rude datum-mark of the relative level of land and 

 sea in this region. From this it would appear that there has been 

 no appreciable change of level in this region for the last forty 

 years. 



Except on the north and north-west sides, the lake is more or 

 less surrounded by hills reaching up to 400 or 500 feet, the passage 

 representing a break in the range. On the Natewa Bay side the 

 level of the surface is much lower. The low strip of land that 

 intervenes between the north-west corner of the lake and Natewa 

 Bay is about a mile across, and does not attain a greater elevation 

 than 40 or 50 feet above the sea. On its surface, fragments of 

 basic volcanic rocks are displayed ; but no reef debris came under 

 my notice. At its north-east side the lake is only separated from 

 Natewa Bay by a neck of land 300 to 400 yards in breadth and 

 about 100 feet high. It was across this neck that the natives in 

 old times used to drag their large canoes. 



Mr. Home 2 who visited this neighbourhood in 1878, suggested 

 that the Salt Lake occupies a crater-cavity. The hills around are 

 of volcanic formation, and I am rather inclined to support this 

 view ; but certainty is scarcely possible now, on account of the 

 great degradation which the surface has evidently experienced 

 during and since the emergence ; whilst subsequent reef-growth 

 has also to some extent masked the original form of the district. 

 It is noteworthy that a somewhat parallel condition of things is 

 presented a few miles to the west by the circular Naindi Bay and 

 the low passage, not more than 50 feet above the sea, that partly 

 isolate the Savu-savu Peninsula. 



The peculiar behaviour of the tides in connection with the 

 Salt Lake and its passage attracted my attention during two visits 

 to this locality. On the first occasion I noticed that between two 

 and three hours after the tide at the coast had commenced to rise 

 there was still a strong flow through the passage from the lake, 

 and that the current was only reversed in the latter half of the 



1 Ten Months in Fiji, London, 1864. 



2 A Year in Fiji, pp. 154, 169 ; London, 1881. 



O 2 



