2 PEOFESSOR W. J. SOLLAS. 



thing of the geology of the neighbourhood and especially to study an interesting 

 example of a raised coral reef On May 1 G we left, with many regrets, Suva and our 

 hospitable friends, and passed out of the island through the tortuous Mbengha 

 passage into the open sea. On the morning of May 21, Funafuti was in sight, and in 

 the afternoon we steamed into the lagoon through the southern entrance. A boat 

 pvit out from the shore to meet us, and Mr. J. O'Brien, the solitary white trader 

 on the island (since dead), came on board to act as pilot. We dropped anchor 

 in 10 fathoms, within a mile of the shore, and nearly opposite the native village. "^ 



Captain Field at once landed with Lieutenant Dawson, Ayles (the foreman 

 of the boring party), and myself We paid a visit to the "King" Elia, and 

 obtained his permission to do all that was necessary to carry out our project. We 

 then proceeded to choose a site for boring, and selected a spot near the sandy beach 

 of the lagoon, conveniently situated for the landing of gear, less than half a mile to 

 the south and west of the village of Funafuti, and near the village well, which 

 supplies a small amount of brackish but drinkable water. The work of landing was 

 commenced the next morning, and completed by May 26. The erection of the boring 

 apparatus was at once taken in hand, and on June 2, twelve days after our arrival on 

 the island, all was in readiness for commencing operations. On June 3 the 6-inch 

 tubes were driven into the sand, and by June 6 they had been advanced 30 feet ; the 

 5-inch pipes were then entered and everything made ready for inserting the diamond 

 crown and commencing to drill on Monday, June 8. On June 10 it was arranged 

 that the work should proceed by shifts, so that the drilling might be carried on 

 continuously day and night. During the first shift the crown had been advanced 

 20 feet, making the total depth then attained 52 feet 9 inches, and in course of 

 this fragments of highly cavernous coral rock were brought up in the core barrel 

 from a depth of between 40 and 50 feet. 



On June 11, a depth of 85 feet having been reached, it was found necessary to 

 ream the hole preparatory to lining, and by June 15 the necessary reaming and 

 lining had been completed. Up to this, although we had been somewhat disap- 

 pointed at our slow rate of progress, occasioned partly by the unfavourable nature of 

 the ground and partly by the frequent failure of our machinery, we had anticipated 

 nothing worse than the possibility of finding our allotted time exhausted before we 

 had reached a depth of 1000 feet ; but now, on setting the crown to work, it very 

 soon ceased to advance, and Ayles shortly afterwards came to me to announce tliat, 

 in his opinion, the boring was a failure. Nevertheless, some further progress was 

 subsequently made, and on Tuesday, June 16, a depth of 105 feet was attained. It 

 then became once more necessary to ream and line the hole. Attempts to ream were 

 continued all through Wednesday and Thursday but without success, for sand poured 

 into the hole and the reamer could not be driven through it. Efforts were made to 



* In the next fev/ pages some extracts from the Report already published in the ' Proceedings of the 

 Royal Society ' (vol. 60, p. 502), are incorporated. " Sand " denotes material of organic origin. 



