1898.] Funafuti, Rotuma and Fiji. 449 



the composition of some, and many have been, I believe, formed 

 by an analogous deposit. 



The barrier reefs of Vanua Levu .show all the characteristics of 

 the similar reefs elsewhere in Fiji, an abrupt rise from a sandy 

 lagoon, a reef-flat of variable breadth, raised rim with fissures not 

 generally very deep, a slope to 40 fathoms in 300 yards and then 

 the usual steep. Fringing reefs only occur to the south-east and 

 to the north of the entrance of Nateva Bay ; they are fairly broad 

 with a distinct boat channel, devoid of corals. Nateva Bay has on 

 the west a broad shore reef covered with sand ; outside is then a 

 clear stretch of water about 1300 yards broad bounded by a line of 

 reefs, on which corals grow in great luxuriance. The rest of the 

 bay is full of shoals and patches, on which also corals abound, 

 many seeming to have been formed by them alone. The Great 

 Barrier Reef of Fiji, extending through 2^° of longitude, lies to 

 the north of Vanua Levu ; to the west in the charts it seems to be 

 continued on by the fringing reefs of the Yasawas, but there is 

 really outside these a line of reefs and shoals, which connect it 

 round the west of Viti Levu to the fringing reefs of that island. 

 Off Waia the continuation is ill-defined; there is a broad flat 

 40 fathoms in depth studded with shoals • but soundings to the 

 outside show that a barrier is probably growing up. The small 

 island of Viwa alone stands outside the 100 -fathom line of this 

 great reef ; its rock is limestone, and it is probably a raised coral 

 island. 



The Great Barrier Reef is in many places double, seeming to 

 consist of two reefs closely apposed, leaving only a narrow channel 

 between with 2 — 3 fathoms of water. In crossing it to the north- 

 west of Vanua Levu, we sailed through an outer reef about 200 

 yards broad into a channel of about the same breadth extending 

 as far as we could see with a sandy bottom ; we then passed 

 through another reef into the lagoon. Both reefs near the passage 

 were covered with corals and nullipores and had flats falling 

 precipitously to the small channel between. The reef here is at a 

 considerable distance from the shore, and, while it is exposed to 

 the ocean to the north, it is beaten on its south side for the 

 greater part of the year by the waves of the trade wind ; thus it is 

 quite conceivable that it should grow up with a face against both 

 and a lagoon between, since the growth of reefs everywhere seems 

 to be greatest, where exposed to the heaviest seas. The broad 

 lagoon within the Great Barrier Reef has an almost uniform depth 

 of 35 — 45 fathoms with a bottom of hard sand ; it is studded with 

 patches and small- reefs, having precipitous walls to 20 fathoms 

 and summits almost awash at low tide. Near the land are a 

 number of larger reefs, some with depressions a few fathoms deep 

 in their centres and so somewhat simulating atoll-reefs. Tbakau 



