58 PROFESSOR T. W. EDGE WORTH DAVID. 



for the pains which he has taken to make the maps and sections* as accurate, 

 geologically, as possible, and to the patience with which he has brought together 

 and co-ordinated the results of his numerous observations. We both desire to 

 express our gratitude for the invaluable services in the preparation of these maps 

 and sections rendered by our colleague, Mr. G. H. Halligan, as well as to 

 Mrs. Halligan for the kind help she gave in the choice of colours for them. We 

 are also much indebted to Mr. H. E. C. Robinsox, our draftsman, whose scientific 

 appreciation of the work and hearty sympathy with it made him at once an 

 enthusiastic worker and useful critic. The unfortunate loss, through theft from a 

 railway carriage in France, of some of our geological maps and sections, might have 

 proved serious had it not been for the fact that we had kept copies of them all. 

 After the maps and sections were finished and on the eve of their transmission 

 to England they narrowly escaped destruction, being about the only material 

 saved from the fire which consumed the premises of the Sydney Publishers, 

 Messrs. McCarron and Stewart. It may be added that the Expedition made 

 to Fiji in 1901 by Mr. W. G. Woolnough, B.Sc, F.G.S., which was undertaken 

 chiefly at the suggestion of Professor Judd, was related to the Funafuti 

 Expedition. 



Before closing this narrative I wish to convey my sincere thanks to all my 

 colleagues and friends here and in the old country for their constant help and 

 sympathy, which has encouraged us to persevere when beset, as we sometimes were, 

 with serious difiiculty. First of all, I thank my colleague. Professor Anderson 

 Stuart, for the kind manner in which lie has worked with me in organising the 

 Expeditions of 1897 and 1898. Professor Sollas and Professor Judd inspired us 

 with enthusiasm for the work, and the generous contributions of Miss Eadith 

 Walker and the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, supplemented by funds of the Royal 

 Society, London, and above all the liberal help of the Government of New South 

 Wales in the loan of the diamond drill, made the expeditions possible. To those 

 members of it already mentioned, together witli the Hon. T. M. Slattery and 

 J. L. Fegan, with Messrs. D. A. Macalister and H. Wood, to Sir W. Lyne and all 

 other helpers named in these pages, we are deeply grateful. 



The handsome services rendered by the London Missionary Society in carrying our 

 gear to and from Funafuti freight-free, and landing and shipping the gear at and 

 from the shores of the lagoon, have already been acknowledged. Captain E. C. Hore 

 assisted us admirably in this work. Only those who have experienced it know the 

 difficulty of landing or shijDping heavy packages and machinery on a coral reef, where 

 everything has to l)e taken in small boats over a sliore line beset with coral heads. 

 Mr. Thomas Pratt, the Sydney Secretary of the London Missionary Society, also 

 rendered us nmch important help. 



The Admiralty made the boring of the Funafuti Lagoon by Mr. G. H. Halligan 



* Plates 1 to 19. 



