204 "ALBATROSS" TEOPICAL PACIFIC EXPEDITION. 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. 



Plates 126-128 ; 220. 



The Fiji Islands^ are among the most interesting groups for the study of 

 coral islands and reefs, owing to the great variety in the conditions under 

 which coral reefs occur there, their accessibility, and the admirable charts 

 of the group which have been published by the English Admiralty. The 

 dimensions of Viti Levu and of Vanua Levu, the great height of the two 

 main islands, and their position in the region of the trades, ai-e such as to 

 give us almost continental conditions for the formation of great barrier 

 reefs. The rivers which radiate from the central part of Viti Levu (PI. 220), 

 the Rewa (PI. 128, fig. 1), the Singatoke,^ the Ba (PI, 128, fig. 2), bring vast 

 bodies of water to the sea, and are in marked contrast to the rivers of other 

 Pacific islands, even of such islands as Tahiti, where the streams, although 

 constant, are torrents. 



The coral reefs of such volcanic groups as Fiji, the Society, the Sandwich, 

 the Samoan, and other islands, are in marked contrast with the coral reefs 

 of such groups as the Paumotus, the Ellice, Gilbert, and Marshall Islands, 

 where the rehandled reef rock material plays the principal part in shaping 

 the physiognomy of the islands. 



Reaching the Lau group in Fiji from the windward side, we had a far 

 better opportunity of seeing the terraces of Yangasa, coming from the 

 northeast, than on a former visit ^ when we examined the group from the 

 west. We also had the advantage of greater experience in detecting 

 traces of terraces, which are indistinct in Fiji compared to their sharp 

 delineation in Nine, the Tougas, and the Paumotus. Yangasa Levu, seen 

 from the passage south of Na Potu, is hat-shaped, flat-topped, and when 

 seen from the south, three of its terraces are plainly marked. The smaller 

 island of Navutuiloma is also terraced, but less distinctly than Yangasa 



^ For an account of older and recent explorations of the Fiji Islands, see J. D. Dana, Corals and 

 Coral Islands, 3d ed. ; Dana, Geology of the U. S. Ex. Ex.: Seeiuan, Flora Vitiensis ; Agassiz, Am. Jour, 

 of Science, Vol. V., p. 113 (February, 1898); J. S. Gardiner, Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc, Vol. IX., pt. viii., 

 p. 457 (1898) ; A. Agassiz, BuU.M. C. Z., XXXIII. (1899) ; E. C. Andrews, Bull. M. C. Z., XXXVIII. 

 (1900); Geol. Ser. v., No. 1. « 



2 Bull. M. C. Z., XXXVIII. PI. 3«. 



3 The Islands and Coral Reefs of Fiji, Alexander Agassiz, Bull. M. C. Z., XXXIII, (1899). 



