Ill 



THE HOT SPRINGS 31 



This matter is further discussed in my general remarks on the hot- 

 springs of this island (page 38). 



5. The Hot Springs near Ravuka. — These springs rise 

 up in the centre of the breadth of the island about nine miles 

 direct from the coast. They are about 200 feet above the sea 

 and are situated on the Ndrawa branch of the Ndreketi River 

 some two miles below the hamlet of Ravuka. They are on a 

 small scale and ooze through a bed of rounded blocks and pebbles 

 close to the water on the left bank. Their temperature in August, 

 1898, was 148° F. They are covered by the river when it is 

 swollen by the rains, and very probably other hot-springs issue 

 along the river-bottom. The conditions are not suitable for the 

 formation of deposits. 



6. The Hot Springs of Vuinasanga. — These thermal 

 springs are also situated in the heart of the island on a tributary 

 of the Ndreketi some three or four miles westward from Va Lili 

 and about 150 feet above the sea. On each bank of the river 

 four or five paces from the water and three or four feet above it, 

 there is a small pool two to four feet wide. In June, 1899, the 

 pool on the right bank had a temperature of 131° F., and that on 

 the left bank of 134°. There were no deposits. 



7. The Hot Springs on the South Side of the Nawavi 

 Range. — These springs also lie within the borders of the valley 

 of the Ndreketi. They may be " located " by describing them as 

 lying a few miles inland from the north coast fronted by Mathuata 

 Island. I did not visit them and have only learned of them from 

 Mr. Thomson's Mathuata paper.^ That gentleman refers to them 

 as two in number and situated at the back of the coast range about 

 four miles inland from the village of Nangumu ; but no particulars 

 are given. 



8. The Hot Springs of Vatuloaloa. — These springs lie 

 on the Mathuata Coast in the neighbourhood of Mathuata Island. 

 I have not seen them, but am indebted to Mr. Thomson for the 

 particulars here given, which are taken from his paper above quoted. 

 Mr. Thomson, who discovered them in 1880, named them the 

 " Gragie " springs. They issue below high-water mark at Vatu- 

 loaloa, and had a temperature in 1880 of about 140° F. They are 

 said to possess many valuable healing qualities. 



^ Proceedings, Queensland Branch, Geographical Society, Australia, vol. 1. 

 r886. 



