114: Agassis — Islands and Coral Reefs of the Fiji Group. 



hundred feet. An oil motor was also provided to expedite the 

 work with increasing depth. 



This machinery had already been shipped when information 

 reached the United States that Professor David of the Univer- 

 sity of Sydney had left for the Atoll of Funafuti in charge 

 of an expedition to take up the unfinished work of boring of 

 the party in charge of Professor Sollas, sent out by the Council 

 of the Poyal Society of London. The day before leav- 

 ing Cambridge for the Pacific, news arrived that Professor 

 David's party had succeeded in reaching a depth of nearly 600 

 feet, the bottom still being in corah This information seemed 

 to settle the coral question, and all I hoped to accomplish was 

 merely to confirm the work of Professor David by boring in 

 some other district. Subsequent information received from 

 Professor David leads me to think that the matter is not so 

 simple as was represented by the newspapers. From what we 

 have seen thus far of the Fiji islands reef I can only conclude 

 that the boring at Funafuti has settled nothing and that we 

 are still as far as ever from having a general theory of the for- 

 mation of coral reefs. In fact with the present information 

 obtained here I should never have thought of boring in the 

 atolls of this group, for reasons which will be given presently. 



The track which we followed was so arranged as to include 

 in our first trip one or two of each type of island and of the 

 different types of atolls, barrier and fringing reefs in the 

 group. Starting from Suva, after visiting Mbenga we went 

 to Ovalau, Wakaya, Makongai, Koro, skirted along the western 

 shore of Taviuni, examined the northeastern coast of the same 

 island, passed through the Matangi passage to Motua Levu and 

 Motua Lailai, skirted along the western extremity of the 

 Nanuku reefs. From there we steamed to Wailangalala, where 

 we landed our boring apparatus and the crew needed for work- 

 ing the same. We then turned north, passing close to Nuku 

 Mbesanga and Adolphus reef and entered Ngele Levu Lagoon. 

 We next examined the Ringgold islands, paying special atten- 

 tion to Thombia, an extinct crater in Budd reef. From there 

 we returned to our former anchorage off Thurston Point in 

 Taviuni and followed our old track back to Wailangalala, 

 where we found our boring party settled and at work. We 

 then steamed south, examining Williamson reef, the Kim- 

 bombo islets, Bell reef and entered the Vanua Mbalavu Lagoon 

 through the Ngillangillah passage, leaving the lagoon by the 

 Tonga pass. We touched at Mango, Tavutha, Naiau and 

 Lakemba, passed Aiwa, entered the Oneata Lagoon, visited 

 Thakau Lekaleka, touched at Motha, entered the Komo La- 

 goon, the Yangasa cluster and the Ongea Lagoon. We passed 

 Fulanga, close to the entrance, which was too shallow to allow 



