44 PEOFESSOR T. W. EDGEWORTH DAVID. 



The official letter to the Tupu of Funafuti from the High Commissioner of the 

 Western Pacific, Sir Henhy S. Berkeley, having been duly presented, we landed, 

 and an examination was at once made of the island near the village with a view to 

 choosing a favourable spot for the diamond drill. The spot selected is sho\\u on 

 Plate 9 near Section 10 and also on Plate 19, and bears about N. 31° E. (magnetic) 

 from the mission church, 450 yards distant. 



Meanwhile, Captain Maclean made a raft, partly out of the bamboos given us by 

 Dr. CoRNEY, partly out of the timber Ijelonging to the little drill, and native porters 

 having been engaged, the work of iniloading and landing the gear and carrying 

 it across the island to the site for the drill camj^ A\'as proceeded with at once, 

 heavy rain falling towards evening. The next day, Sunday and the Diamond 

 Jubilee Day of her late Majesty was kept as a day of rest for all hands. A Poyal 

 Salute was fired and the National Anthem sung. The following day, by dint of 

 working from sunrise to after dark, all ovu' material, including the coal, was landed in 

 the midst of the heavy downpours of tropical rain, and the s.s. "Maori" left the 

 island at daybreak the following morning (June 22). Mr. Sweet rendered very 

 valuable service in the work of transporting the drill machinery, including the heavy 

 boilers, across the island, and in erecting a commodious shed of corrugated iron for 

 our stores.* 



The diamond-drill men fixed their tents and water tanks and erected the derrick 

 and drill, and on the eleventh day after our arrival at the island the Tupu tin-ned 

 on the steam and so started the drilling. The rock of the reef platform upon which 

 we started boring was so tough that the drill was running for several hours without 

 boring more than an inch or so. This, however, was partly due to the diamonds 

 being inset rather too deeply into tlie soft-steel boring-crown. 



Meanwliile having ascertained tluit the information given me in Sydney that there 

 was a small island in the middle of the lagoon was wholly incorrect, there being 

 nothing but a shoal, known as Te Akau Tiduaga, difficult of access from the village 

 (about 5 miles distant), difficult too for landing gear and having a dangerous break 

 over it during rough weather, T reluctantlv decided to abandon the attempt to get 

 a bore down with the little drill in the middle of the Woon. 



To this decision I was led by the consideration that the delay in erecting 

 the staging and oil engine would have been very considerable. It would have 

 been possible to work at the erecting of the drill only after half-tide at this shoal 

 and then calm weather would have been essential. Every j)iece of machinery 

 would have had to be taken by boat, and the wooden stairinu; must have been towed 

 in instalments. Each journey to and trom the slioal would have meant 10 miles at 



* This shed proved a great comfort and convenience during the whole of our visit, and we should 

 Sitrongly recommend any future expedition, going under conditions like ours, to provide themselves with a 

 similar shed of galvanised iron roof and sides, Avith the timber of the framework ready cut to length and 

 numbered so that it can be quickly fitted together. 



