NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION IN 1890,. 3 



remove the sand l,)y a saiid-piiiiip, but pioved unavailing, the sand flowing in faster 

 than it could be pumped out. Ayles assured me that it was impossible to descend 

 another foot, and that he considered further labour to be time and money thrown 

 away. It was decided, therefore, to abandon this bore-hole. 

 The structure of the ground passed through was as follows : — 



5Bft.9in. 



65 fC. 



/Odft. 



Fig. 1. 



Sand yy/'t/} some cora/ b/ocks. 



Com/ reefs ainaf b/ocka iv/th 

 some sand. 



Sand with some cora/ b/ochs. 



On informing Captain Field o± our difficulties he delayed the departure of the 

 " Penguin " which was about to sail to meet the Admiral at Suva, and came ashore to 

 see if he could render us any assistance. We were inclined to suspect that our want 

 of success might be due to exceptionally unfavourable circumstances dependent on 

 the locality we had selected for the bore -hole; it M^as close to the lagoon, and our 

 operations from the first had been conducted in the loose sand of the lagoon beach. 

 We determined, therefore, to look for some place where solid rock aj)peared at the 

 surface as far from the lagoon and as near the outer reef as it might be possible to get. 



A part of the island, to which we shall refer subsequently, as the " Mangrove Swamp," 

 seemed to offer us such a site as we were in search of ; particularly as its surface 

 appeared to be formed of solid coral rock. On investigation, however, it was soon 

 found that the dead masses of Porites and Heliopora, of which this rock is composed, 

 could be easily dislodged with a spade and crowbar, and that they formed only a thin 

 layer over a deposit of fine silt and sand below. 



We then turned our attention to the solid platform of rock which forms the ocean 

 side of the island. It was not easy, however, to find a place to which we could 

 transport our machinery ; the difficulties of landing on a rocky shore rendered several 

 promising spots inaccessible by sea, while the absence of wheeled vehicles or even 



B 2 



