52 PEOFESSOli T. \V. YAKiEWOUTli DAVID. 



7iumeroiis. We were guided by the Rev. F. E. Lawes to a deep ravine, known as 

 Vailoa, about a mile northward.s from the Mission Station. There is a good section 

 here, which showed that the upper part of the old reef was coralhferous only for a 

 thickness of about 20 feet, and that this crust of reef coral rested upon 50 to 60 feet 

 of fine-grained hard limestone, showing thin current beds dipping very steeply. 

 At a yet lower level — about 20 feet above sea-level — was a trace of a third terrace 

 witli still more recent coral. At low water there, a reef flat about 100 yards wide is 

 exposed at the base of the limestone cliff, and here living coral and Lithotliamtiioii 

 are fairly abundant. Nine appeared to us a raised atoll which would richly repay 

 further investigation. We were infoimed by Mr. Lawes that the sea cliffs of 

 the island abounded in large caverns, and these should aftbi'd good sections. 

 A small collection obtained by us at Vailoa has already been handed over for 

 descrijjtion to Professor Judd. 



From Nine we were delayed by adverse winds to such an extent that we had to 

 put in to Suva in Fiji on accoimt of being short of coal, H.M.S. " Royalist" arriving 

 there on the same day. Unfortunately both the " Royalist " and the " John Williams " 

 just missed the s.s. " Archer" at Suva, and so we were left in ignorance as to whether 

 or not that steamer would be able to call at Funafuti on her letin'n voyage, to convey 

 Mr. Sweet and the drill party back to Sydney. This missing of the s.s. " Archer" 

 led later to considerable trouble and expense. After being hospitably entertained at 

 Suva by Dr. and Mrs. Corney, we re-embarked in the "John Williams," and later 

 fell in with the tail of a cyclone which so seriously delayed us that we did not reach 

 Sydney until October 14th. My first care was to send coal and provisions, and some 

 sort of ship to bring home Mr. Sweet and his party. On incpiiry of the owners of 

 the " Archer," as to whether she would call at Funafuti on her return from the 

 Gilbert and Marshall Islands and convey Mr. Sweet and his party back to Sydney, 

 they assured me that the instructions given the supercargo precluded their doing 

 so and they held that he would abide by his instructions. 



The New South Wales Government Steamer " Thetys," foi' which I next made 

 application, proved to have too small a coal-carrying capacity. At the instance of 

 the then Premier, the Hon. G. H. Reid, Viscount Hampdex, tlie Governor of New 

 South Wales, wrote to the Governor of Fiji, Sir Gkorge O'Brien, urging that the 

 Fiji Government Steamer " Clyde " might be sent to re-provision and re-coal the party 

 at Funafuti. In the event of the "Clyde" not being available, the Government of 

 New South Wales generously undertook to pay for a small ship to go from Fiji to 

 Funafuti and back. As it proved impossible to detail the " Clyde " for the work, the 

 Hon. Dr. B. G. Corney, after a good deal of difficulty in view of that time of the 

 year being the hurricane season, succeeded in chartering the " Eastward Ho," a 

 schooner of 45 tons burden, to go to Funafuti. The Hon. A. Duncan, agent for the 

 Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, kindly arranged at once to ship by her 

 10 tons of coal for Mr. Sweet, and this together with provisions for the Funafuti 



