is MR. H. E. BEADY OHf THE 



sides of the slopes lie at a greater or less angle, while on the top of 

 the slopes the strata assume a somewhat horizontal or unconformable 

 position. This would point to the presumed unconformable strata 

 either having been deposited after the formation of the other strata, 

 or, what is more likely, these are the top of the folded strata, i. e, 

 the strata forming the slopes, and from their horizontal position 

 better preserved from denudation. This rock in many places is softy 

 and crumbles when exposed to the air. It is smooth and very 

 slippery when wet or polished, and is locally known as Soap-stone. 

 In other places it is hard, brittle, and shattered to the size of road 

 macadam, often rough from coralline and other sands, pieces of 

 shells, &c., being imbedded in it. These may be noticed on descend- 

 ing the cliffs from the native village of Tamavua to the river, and 

 again at the native town of Kahiba, on the river of the same name, 

 between Suva and the Eewa. At Tamavua and Kaluba the cliffs are 

 about 300 feet in height. At the last, the river has cut down through 

 this soft rock, and now flows over a bed of hard agglomerate "*. To 

 this I may add, from particulars furnished by my friend Mr. H. 

 Eeeve, late of the Government Survey and Public Works Depart- 

 ment at Suva, that the superficial deposits referred to extend from a 

 point about twelve miles west of Suva to the valley of the Rewa 

 Biver, which must be about as far in the opposite direction, and 

 from the sea-coast to a height, in one place at any rate, of 700 feet, 

 at a distance of three or four miles inland ; more commonty, how- 

 ever, they are not met with at a greater elevation than 250 feet. 

 The thickness of the deposit, of course, varies in different localities. 

 Borings for water have generally shown that it rests on a sort of 

 coral-limestone. 



Prom a practical standpoint, that is to say, as a foundation for 

 roads, in a region where harder material is not readily accessible, 

 or for buildings, the objectionable qualities of the deposit are not 

 overstated by the author above quoted. The inhabitants of Suva 

 complain that in the rainy season their roads are so deep in soft, 

 sticky mud as to be almost impassable, whilst in hot dry weather 

 they are tormented by ceaseless clouds of irritating dust. 



Deposits of very similar nature occur in many of the islands of 

 the Pacific, and typical specimens of the so-called " Soapstone " 

 exhibit precisely the same physical characters as some of the softer 

 rocks described by Dr. H. B. Guppy in his excellent memoir on the 

 recent calcareous formations of the Solomon Groupf. They belong 

 to the first division of Dr. Guppy's classification, namely, " rocks 

 which, being largely composed of volcanic debris mixed with the 

 tests of Poraminifera, Pteropods, and other Molluscs, have a com- 

 position very similar to that of the volcanic muds at present forming 

 around oceanic islands in the Pacific," and containing " both pelagic 



* 'A Year in Fiji/ by John Home, F.L.S., London, 1881, pp. 165, 166. 



t " Observations on the Eecent Calcareous Formations of the Solomon 

 Group, made during 1882-4," by H. B. Guppy, M.B., F.G.S., Surgeon H.M.S. 

 'Lark.' Trans. Eoy. Soc. Edinb. vol. xxxii. pp. 545-581, pis. cxliv., cxlv. 

 (1885). 



