148 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



are intelligent, and some of the chiefs have been well educated in the 

 schools of the Australasian colonies, speaking English with fluency 

 and being well informed of the events of the world. 



The common people and some of the chiefs live much as they did 

 before the advent of the whites, excepting that they have, of course, 

 long given up their tribal wars and some of the practices arising there- 

 from. Most of them are professed Christians and in form, at least, 

 are more devout than some of their white neighbors. In the vicinity of 

 Suva white influence is seen in the dress of the women, a cotton gown 

 reaching to the ankles, and the men wear cotton loin cloths, or sulus, 

 and shirts, the chiefs dressing in white. In the interior of Viti Levu, 

 however, and at Kambara, the dress of many of the women is a skirt of 

 fiber reaching to about the knees, and the men wear the sulu without 

 covering to the upper part of body. Except in a few places, practically 

 all of their household utensils are of home manufacture after their 

 ancient models, and their villages are innocent of corrugated iron. A 

 few large, double-sailing canoes are still to be seen, but there are none 

 approaching in size the great war crafts of former times, and in the 

 neighborhood of Suva, at least, they are fast giving place to sloops 

 and cutters, whose general superiority the native appreciates. 



Before reaching Suva four soundings, ranging between 324 and 600 

 fathoms, were made among the southern islands of the Lau Group, 

 and another of 990 fathoms was made about 13 miles west of Kam- 

 bara. After leaving Suva no soundings were made until in latitude 

 12° 43' S., longitude 179° 50' W., a depth of 1,445 fathoms was found 

 about midway between Fiji and the Ellice Islands. The trawl and 

 tow nets were used at this station with rather meager results and this 

 constitutes practically the only work of the kind between Suva and 

 Yokohama, although the surface net was used on several occasions. 

 The following day a sounding of 245 fathoms was found at a point about 

 half a mile south of Nurakita Island. This island, usuall}^ known as 

 Sophia Island, is owned by a white man who has erected an apparently 

 substantial building, and is inhabited by Samoans in his service. 



From Nurakita the Albatross proceeded to Funafuti, when anchor 

 was dropped in the lagoon off the village of Fongafale on the after- 

 noon of December 23. Funafuti is one of the few atolls which have 

 been well surveyed. It is almost 15 miles long and about 10 miles 

 wide, its greatest length being nearly due north and south, and 

 its width east and west, magnetic. The depth of the lagoon will 

 average 24 fathoms, but it is considerably shoaler on the west side, 

 and there are many reefs and coral patches scattered everywhere over 

 the lagoon, these being readilj'^ i-ecognized in the sunlight by the light- 

 green color in contrast with the blue of the deeper water. Outside 

 of the atoll the water is deep, soundings of 1,000 fathoms being 

 obtainable within 2 or 3 miles of the shores and still deeper water 

 being found beyond. Funafuti is, in fact, the summit of a steep sub- 

 marine peak. The land lies on the eastern and soutlieastern rim of the 



