50 



PEOFESSOK T. W. EDGEWOKTH DAVID. 



by drilling two holes where each tooth had been lost and then screwing into them a 

 pair of false teeth made of pieces cut from wrought -iron bolts. 



At last, however, so serious a break occurred in the crown gearing wheel that the 

 artificer considered that it was impossible to repair it without very considerable delay. 

 We were, therefore, much surprised on our return to the drill camp a few hours later 

 to find that the drill was again in full work. The explanation was as follows : — One 

 of the natives named TiLi on seeing the artificer commencing to repair the broken 

 wheel exclaimed that he had got one just like that himself, and presently produced a 

 wheel the facsimile of the broken one, with the exception that it was not broken, but 

 only somewhat worn, which he had just dug up from the roots of one of his cocoanut 

 palms. He had placed it tliere so that the iron might act as a fertiliser (fig. 17). 



Fig. 17.— The Fertilising "Wheel. 



Tlie explanation also of the mystery as to how he came to be possessed of the wheel 

 was easily given. On the occasion of Professor Sollas' Expedition in 1896, among 

 the very few articles left behind ^\•as a bevel gearing ^^heel the counterpart of the one 

 we had broken ; it belonged in fact to a sister macliine to the drill whicli we were 

 using. This piece of good fortune enabled us to contiiuie the boring without serious 

 delay ; as while one gearing wheel was in use, tiie duplicate was being repaired. 



Satisfactory progress Avas made, but the greatest anxiety was noA\ felt for the coal 

 supply, which was fast diminishing. Every scrap of coal, including a little left at 

 Luamanife by the previous Expedition, was carefully scraped together, and made to go 

 further by burning with it Ngie {Pemphis acidula) wood supplied by the natives. The 

 supply of fuel was almost completely exhausted, wlien fortunately H.M.S. " Koyalist," 

 (Japtaiii Kasox, R.N., arrived at Funafuti and anchored in the lagoon. C/aptain 

 Kason at once supplied us with provisions and a sum of money, and promised on his 



