APPENDIX
Note on the Stone-Axes.—Two of these polished stone-axes from a collection made in Vanua Levu were selected for sections. One is light-green and smooth. The other has a very different appearance, being blackish and rather rough, its smooth surface having been apparently lost by lying in a stream-course or in wet ground for a long period. Both, however, are made of the same type of basaltic rock, the specific gravity in one case being 2·93, in the other 2·97. It is an aphanitic basalt with scanty olivine containing little or no residual glass and referred to genus 40 of the olivine-basalts. It is by no means a common type of basalt in Vanua Levu, and I cannot refer it to any particular locality on account of the peculiarities it presents when contrasted with rocks of the same genus. The olivine is very scanty and small, and in one of the specimens is represented only by pseudomorphs. The felspar-lathes vary usually from ·05 to ·2 mm. in length, and the augite granules which are very abundant are ·01 or ·02 mm. in diameter. There is an occasional small phenocryst of augite. The rock shows little or no alteration and cannot be characterised as a greenstone. The greenish hue of one axe is due to weathering; but its extension into the internal black portion of the tool is not appreciable.
Note on the ascent of the tide up the Ndreketi River.—On July 20th and 21st, 1899, by observing the surface density it was ascertained that at high-water the sea-water reached Navundi a mile or two below Mbatiri. At low-tide it reached about half-way between Kanathangi and Navundi. The moon was in her quarters.
Note on the “talasinga” districts.—This subject will be discussed in the second volume.