VA-LILI 



143 



after this, we arrived at the foot of the steep ascent leading to the 

 summit of Va-Hli. We were now rather over 2,400 feet above the 

 sea ; but my natives refused to go on, the heavy rain having made 

 the slope too slippery for a safe ascent. With much reluctance I 

 retraced my steps ; and as the bad weather continued for several 

 days after, I did not make another attempt. There would, how- 

 ever, be no difficulty in dry weather. 



(2) Traverse of the Va-lili Range from the old 



SITE OF LOMA-LOMA TO WAIWAI ON THE COAST OF SAVU- 

 SAVU Bay. — This route, which was taken by Mr. Home, the 

 botanist, in the reverse direction in 1878, is thus described in his 

 book, ^ Year in Fiji (p. 19): "The path, rough and apparently 

 not much used, ran along streams, up steep ascents and down 

 awkward descents, over slippery boulders and fallen trees, up the 

 sides and along the crests of densely wooded mountains." 



Ascending the north slope of the range I found at the Tangi- 

 nandreli cave, which is 1,050 feet above the sea, a palagonite-tuff- 

 sandstone underlying the basic agglomerate. This tuff, which is 

 of the type described just below, does not effervesce with an acid, 

 and shows no tests of foraminifera when examined with a lens. 

 Further up the slopes large masses of agglomerate occur. At 

 1,350 feet I came upon a large mass of a fine-grained compacted 

 palagonite-tuff made up chiefly of fragments of palagonitized 

 vacuolar basic glass. Among the mineral fragments occur plagio- 

 clase, augite, and rhombic pyroxene, and a little fresh olivine, 

 which is of very rare occurrence in these palagonite-tuffs. It 

 contains little or no lime, and shows no tests of foraminifera in the 

 slide. The summit of the range is here about half a mile broad, 

 and is relatively level. I placed its elevation at 1,760 feet, which 

 is not far from Home's estimate of 1,800 feet. The southern slope, 

 which is the rainy side of the range, is much cut up into gorges. 

 In the upper 200 feet palagonite-tuffs, similar to those above 

 referred to, are displayed, and basic agglomerates occur lower 



down This part of the range is remarkable through being 



completely covered over by palagonite-tuffs and agglomerates. 

 It has been pointed out above that this is not the case with the 

 range close to the highest peak, where the underlying rocks are 

 in part exposed at the crest of the range. 



(3) The Eastern Peak of the Va-lili Range. — This 

 hill, about 1,100 feet in height, overlooks the Mbale-mbale branch 

 of the Ndreke-ni-wai river. At its foot near the river there is 

 exposed at the roadside a rubbly pitchstone formed of a basic glass, 



