42 IMiOFEHSOK T. W. EDGEWORTH DAVID. 



Expedition, but fortunately Mr, G. Sweet, F.G.S., of Melbourne, was able to join 

 me. Later two of my University Students — Mr. W. G. Woolnough, B.Sc, F.G.S., 

 and Mr. W. Poole, B.E., F.G.S. — volunteered their services ; these with my wife 

 and myself and the contingent in charge of the diamond drill completed the party. 

 The latter comprised the following : — J. Hall (foreman-in-cliarge) ; G. Burns 

 (assistant foreman) ; J. Garland (assistant foreman and artificer) ; J. Dent (assistant) ; 

 E. A. Hambly (assistant) ; F. Smith (assistant). We had hoped that Professor 

 SoLLAS might be able to j(»in us later, Imt unfortunately his work at the University 

 of Oxford made that impossible. 



In addition to the diamond drill, we got ready a small drill to be mounted on a 

 wooden platform about 10 feet high, and to be driven by an oil engine. This was 

 designed for boring at the small sand patch known as Te Akau Tuluaga, near the centre 

 of the Funafuti Lagoon. We were informed, but the information proved to be 

 erroneous, that this patch was an island a little above high water, in which case it 

 would have been an ideal site for a bore. This small drill was designed by 

 Mr. W. F. Smeeth, M.A., B. E., A.R.S.M., who was most useful and untiring in 

 assisting me in the final preparations for the Expedition. We also provided 

 ourselves with a strong new boat, 20 feet in length, whicli was purchased for us by 

 the Hon. H. C Dangar and Professor Anderson Stuart. Lastly, we had prepared 

 the material for a corrugated iron shed. We originally intended sailing down from 

 Sydney in the barque " Loongaua," trading with the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, and 

 had actually made provisional agreements for the freights and passages with her 

 owners. She was, liowever, seriously delayed on her return joinney from these 

 islands, and as she was several weeks overdue, and June was already approaching, 

 we had to devise some other means of transport to Funafuti. Eventually we arranged 

 to go by the L^nlon Company's s.s. "Taviuni" from Sydney to Suva, transliipping 

 from that port in the same Company's coasting steamer " Maori." The cost, however, 

 of this arrangement was far in excess of our original estimate, which was based on 

 the tender of the owners of the " Loongana," and through want of funds it appeared, 

 up to the day before the '" Taviuni " actually sailed, that the whole Expedition 

 would have to be indefinitely postponed. In this serious crisis Miss Eadith Walker 

 assisted us most handsomely by providing a loan of .£400 (£150 of wliich slie 

 subsequently added as a donation to her original gift of £500). 



Before our departure Mr. Stanley Gardlner and also Mr. C. Hedley gave me 

 much useful information ; Professor Liversidge supplied Winchester quart bottles 

 for obtaining samples of sea-water I'or analysis, Professor Haswell a large toothed 

 iron crown for dredging as well as a dredge, Mr. J. P. Hill a dredge, and 

 Mr. E. Etheridge, Junior, a dredge and tangle bar. Mr. J. H. Maiden, the 

 Director of the Botanic Gardens, fin-nished material for botanical collecting, and 

 Mr. H. C. Russell, F.B.S., Director of the Sydney Observatory, supplied us with 

 minimum thermometers. Mr. G. H. Halligan, L.S., F.G.S., Government Hydro- 



