THE FIJIS 341 



thought these bluffs were late Tertiary, a conclusion 

 confirmed by Dr. W. H. Dall's examination of the fossil 

 mollusks that the former collected from them. Agassiz 

 admitted the difficulty of determining the method of 

 formation of these elevated corallif erous limestones of a 

 former geological period. He was, however, inclined to 

 believe them to have been built up by a variety of causes, 

 in part by the growth of a reef seawards on a platform 

 formed by pieces of coral that have broken off and 

 rolled down the outer slope of the reef, in part, perhaps, 

 by subsidence, and in part by accretion from the car- 

 casses of the invertebrates living upon their surface. 



To examine these cliffs properly one must be lowered 

 over their edge with a rope, or climb their faces by 

 means of the long hanging roots of banyan trees. So 

 Agassiz concluded that the examination had best be 

 made by a younger man who would devote considerable 

 time to it. In pursuance of the advice of Professor 

 T. W. E. David, of the University of Sydney, Mr. E. C. 

 Andrews was selected for this investigation. Mr. An- 

 drews chartered a small cutter, and spent some time 

 among the islands. From his examination it would ap- 

 pear that these " raised reefs " have seldom more than a 

 comparatively moderate thickness, forming a capping 

 that lies outside and over a bedded cream-colored lime- 

 stone, quite distinct from the so-called reef rock. In 

 some cases Mr. Andrews was able to trace the underly- 

 ing volcanic formation whose upheaval caused the eleva- 

 tion of the islands. The examination by R. L. Sherlock 

 and E. W. Skeats of the material blasted from the face 

 of the cliff would seem to confirm Agassiz's opinion of 

 the age of these elevated " reefs." 



Any one who has followed Agassiz's theory of the 



