688 
In Fergusson Island (Moratau)* Mr. Maitland ascended the Crater of Diau, 900 
feet. “ The ascent was made up a gully carved out of a blackish ash, with fragments of 
pumice-stone and a glassy volcanic rook. From the summit an excellent view of the 
cone and its associations could be obtained. This is a tuff cone. Its south-eastern face 
is hollowed out into numerous ravines, in which occasional sections show stratified ashes. 
The crater wall has been breached by a lava, which flowed to within a short distance of 
the beach, near \V orua Island. 1 follow’ed the edge of the lava-flow from its source to its 
termination, and was enabled to ascertain that its general character is similar throughout. 
The rock has a glassy resinous lustre and a splintery fracture. Weathered surfaces show 
undoubted fluxion-structure, the lines of flow sweeping round the sanidine crystals, 
sanidine being the only mineral visible to the eye. From the summit of the crater the 
emanation of water-vapour could be seen over a large area of country to the north.” 
In referring to the small bay in Fergusson Island, to the north-west of Eawai 
Point, Mr. Maitland observes that “ its peculiar scythe-shaped form pointed to its being 
the segment of an ancient crater, and an actual examination gave credence to this view. 
Manifestations of solfatarie action were evident on the face of the cliff 
In places the sea water was quite hot, owing to the streams of hot water which flowed 
down from the hills behind.” 
Mr. Maitland describes two visits made by him to the island of Dobu (Goulvaih), 
south of Fergusson Island, as follows : — 
“Approaching Dobu from Dawson Straits, it appeared to have all the 
characteristics of a volcano. Steam could bo seen issuing from points on the beach on 
the north side of the island. 
“ My first visit was paid at about the time of high water. There were several 
orifices from which water issued at an average temperature of 200° Fahr. I estimated 
the area over which the waters issued at about one hundred square yards. The gas, 
given out copiously, had a strong sulphurous odour. The sandstones in the neighbour- 
hood were slightly bleached. 
“ A second visit, at low water, showed that the so-called boiling springs were 
merely fissures to which sea water had acce.ss. The sides of the fissures were encrusted with 
deposits of flow'ers of sulphur. A few yards behind the f uinaroles was a whitish-grey cliff, 
exhibiting undoubted evidences of solfatarie action. In caverns in the cliffs there occur 
large deposits of yellow and greyish-brown sulphur, commonly massive, but here and there 
in the form of aeieular crystals. These caverns, many of which I discovered when 
breaking down the cliffs with my hammer, w^ere found to have a very high temperature. In 
one case a stream of hot air rushed out with a hissing noise, but this was only momentary.” 
In the same island there are two extinct craters, which must be of considerable 
proportions, for Mr. Maitland mentions that “a few villages” have been built on the “lofty 
almost circular wall, roughlyestimated at about ahundred feet in height,” of one of them. 
Mr. Maitland .got sufficiently near the active volcano of Mount Victory (on the 
north-east coast of New Guinea), to see volumes of steam and smoke issuing from the 
sides of the mountain. 
PLUTONIC AND INTRUSIVE ROCKS. 
The area occupied by granitic rocks is apparently not large. So far as 
exploration has extended, it has only been noted in the Mainland at Mabaduan, north 
of Sabai Island, and: in a few of the islets of Torres Strait. Uiorites and other basic 
rocks, which Mr. Maitland regards as either Plutonic or Intrusive, are met with in 
limited areas in the Owen Stanley District. 
In the 1890 Map the name Moratau is applied to Goodenough Island, west of Fergusson Island. 
