s t r a t a , o f the fame nature, near .a cafcade. formed b y the "river Matavai,
there are pillars o f a g r e y , ' folid bafaltes, f nitrum iafaltinum L in n .)
and here and there J . few. Fragments o f black folid bafaltes or para-
gone, "which the natives commonly, employ to make their pafte heaters,
hatchets, duffels and cnttingtools. A t 6 -Ahe-pdmthe. natives
brought me on hoard a kind o f pyrites having, the txa&.fbrm' o f a
ftaladtite, or o f a fubffiance that’ had been melted and congealed
while running down. T h e exiflence o f fulphureoBs.'pyrites confirms
the account I was favoured with :by the learned and ingenious. Dr.
Cafimiro Gomez Ortega, F .R .S . 'the Kin g o f Spain’sBotanift, and In -
tendant o f the bDtanicai garden at Madrid, intimating that the Spanish
men o f war, which had been.at O-Tahertee, brought from thence
a large mafs o f the fineftcryflalline traniparent native Tulphur, now
placed in the royal daHi.net o f natural hiftory'afdWadrid;- A t the
top o f the numerous valleys, which interfecl thefe ides, are large*
sOcky maffes, black and cavemans, fu ll o f "various white and other
fpecks o f fherl, in a word, real lava. There is likewifc a grey, flalac-
titic, porous lava to be met with, which contains black Iherls; and
laftly we found an argillaceous, lamellated iron Hone o f a dull red-
dilh brown colour.
T h e F-RiENDtY IsiiAN Ds’have, in nay-opinion-, the fame foil as
the Society I lies; With'this difference only, that they are not fo
high or fb-rocky as" the latter. ■' When we came to A-Namecka in
the
the year 1774, we faw on the ifle o f Tofaoa afmoke in themorning, s t r a t a
which, appeared fiery at night. When we paffed. between it. and O -
Ghao, we obferved great, clouds of Intake rifing from the middle of
the ifle, attended with a fine!! fimibr to that produced by burnt
turf * feme particles fiUed- the atmofphere, and fell down on the
fhip, and coming in contadl with the eye, occaftoned an acute pain.
O n the North, fide o f the ifle w e law a large place with the evident
appearance, o f being lately burnt by fire. O n the fhores o f A -N a -
moeka, pumice-ftanes were, frequently thrown up by die fea. T h e
natives o f all thefe iiles ufed likewife pieces o f black,, folid befeltes
for hatchets and tools, as in the Society Ifles. Among the. fifhing
implements o f thefe illanders, we found conic pieces., o f a calcareous
ftone y but w e could not determine whether they were made, o f {par,
or o f coral-rock : though I am. inclined to BeEeve thefe cones to be
a kind o f fparry fubftance.
The foil o f the N ew -H.e br id e s -.feents to be very much- of the
lame kind with, that in the .above iflands.
A t M a u ic o t no,. it appeared to confiff rather o f a yello wfih clay,,
mixed w ith common fend. T h e rocks along the fea-fhore, are
formed of corals-and-.madrepores y and higher up e£ an indurated clay.
T h e ifle o f A m k k k ym has certainly'one,, i f not two, volcanos y
and we found .pumice-ftanes on the oppofite fhores o f Mullko-llo-.
IRR.OMAMGA we few only at a. diftanjee, and it feemed tp be much
of