UPOLU — M ANONO — SA VAIL 101 



title, and the appellation of Toomata, a contraction of To'o-ma-ata, is 

 retained by his descendants, who are still chiefs of note in Upoln, 

 and from whom the tradition was derived. 



The lake of Lauto is regarded with superstitious dread by the 

 natives, who believe it to be the abode of the spirits, who, in former 

 times, were regarded with great veneration, and worshipped. These 

 were supposed to inhabit the waters of the lake, in the shape of eels, 

 as thick as a cocoa-nut tree, and two fathoms long. The attempt of 

 our gentlemen to explore it was looked upon as such a profanation 

 that their native guides left them, and regarded them as persons 

 doomed to accident if not to destruction. The eels were represented 

 as so savage and fierce that they would bite a person's leg off. No 

 eels, however, nor any other fish, were seen in the lake. 



In the neighbourhood of the crater no rock was observed in place, 

 nor any light scoria. Only a few fragments of stone were scattered 

 about. 



The cone of the crater of Lauto, is flatter than the others of the 

 same character that were visited, and particularly than that of Mount 

 Tofua. This is the westernmost of them all, and lies behind Fase- 

 tootai. It rises so boldly, that it is seen distinctly from the sea. 

 This, with all the other craters, are situated upon the central ridge, 

 and the most conspicuous of those which remain, are Siusinga, which 

 lies behind Sagana and Faliata. There is also one upon Mount 

 Malata, in the rear of Fangaloa, and another on the southern side of 

 the island, near Salomana. 



The part of the ridge on which Tofua is situated, is much lower 

 than the cone itself, and has gradually declined from its eastern end. 

 The ascent from Fasetootai has, for the first three or four miles, an 

 almost imperceptible rise ; after this, the slope increases rapidly until 

 it becomes quite abrupt. Even in the steepest parts, however, the 

 rock was rarely visible, but is covered with a deep and fertile soil, 

 arising from its decomposition, and mixed with vegetable mould. 

 The whole declivity, from the very summit of the peak to the shore 

 of the sea, is, like other parts of the island, clothed with a dense 

 forest, which shuts out all view of the ocean, except from the top of 

 the mountain. The ridge whence the cone rises was found to be 

 one thousand one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, 

 and the angle of ascent thence upwards, was from 40° to 50°. The 

 top of the peak, which forms the edge of the crater, is not more than 

 fifteen feet wide in any place, and sometimes not more than half as 



vol. ii. 26 



