Ill THE HOT SPRINGS 27 



in the surface around the springs. There is, in fact, no trace of a 

 crateral cavity in this district now. 



I will now briefly notice the history of the boiling springs since 

 1840, when they were visited by Commodore Wilkes, At that 

 time there were five springs, situated in a basin 40 feet across, and 

 possessing a temperature of 200 — 2io°F. Although there was 

 scarcely any appearance of boiling, rapid ebullition could be excited 

 by covering the springs with leaves and grass. The natives alleged 

 that the springs had always been in the same condition. In 1863, 

 when the Chief of Wainunu (Tui Wainunu) came to fight the Savu- 

 savu people, he endeavoured but without success to choke up the 

 springs by heaping earth over them. I was informed of this circum- 

 stance by Mr. A. H. Barrack, the owner of the springs. Miss 

 Gordon Gumming also refers to it in her book At Home in Fiji. 

 When this lady visited the springs in August, 1876, they were 

 intermittent in their action, the highest making a fountain two to 

 three feet high. According to the description of Kleinschmidt they 

 were in the same intermittent condition in May of the same year. 

 There were then four springs situated in a bowl-shaped hollow. 

 The two larger springs were not constantly bubbling up, but dis- 

 played periodic ebullitions of about twenty minutes' duration, the 

 waters disappearing in the intervals. The other two springs were 

 not then active. Home, who visited this locality in 1878, refers to 

 three or four principal springs situated in the centre of a hollow, 

 which was surrounded by a mound of earth, the water boiling up 

 to the height of about a foot. 



About this time the springs entered for a while into a new phase 

 of action and assumed the form of geysers. According to infor- 

 mation received from Mr. A. H. Barrack and other old residents in 

 Savu-savu, the waters spouted up to a height of from 40 to 60 feet, 

 not vertically but at an angle. Each outburst, which lasted for ten 

 or twenty minutes, was followed by a similar interval of repose, 

 during which the springs dried up. This continued for a month or 

 two, after which the springs gradually resumed their normal level. 

 When I visited the springs in July and November, 1898, they were 

 boiling briskly, attaining a height of a few inches, and showed no 

 signs of intermittent action. 



I come now to the different analyses that have been made of 

 the water of these thermal springs of Savu-savu. Specimens have 

 been analysed at different times by chemists in various parts of the 

 world, in America, in Germany, in Australia, etc, and the results as 

 far as known to me are now appended. 



