The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1897-04-23
THE CORAL ISLAND EXPEDITION
II Made Complete Failure in Its
Operations at Funafuti.

1t Made n Complete Failure in Its
Operations at Funafuti.
A vigorous attempt to wrest from the
jealous hands of nature the secret of
the origin and genesis of coral atolls
and reefs, commonly spoken of as coral
islands, was made last summer by an
expedition sent out to the Ellice by
the Royal society, assisted by a COM
mittee of the British association, under
the charge of Prof. Sollas, of the Uni
versity of Dublin. The chief object
of the expedition, twill be remembered,
was to ascertain, by sounding and bor-
ing, the genesis of coral island, and
the means employed were fully de-
scribed i'll the Times of September 5
last The article on the coral island
expedition it was stated that the actual
operation of boring through the depos-
it's of coral to the strata below was
comparatively easy, provided all goes
we'll" Unfortunately for the elucida
ton of the mystery Of the origin of
coral atolIs, all has not gone well. From
the report submitted by Prof. Sollas to
the Royal society on February II it APP
pears that the expedition arrived az
Funafuti on May p last year. and the
first difficulty was to land the boring
plant and driving machinery. n land
| ing place having been selected. the
heavy plant was taken on shore, and on
June 5, within two days of the landing
OF the apparatus, the first attempt at
boring was made near the edge of the
L xaF
first rapid, the men working day and
night in three shifts of eight hours
each, and in fortnight the bore hole
was 1O5 feet deep. But unfortunately
the sand poured into the hole faster
than it could be pumped out, and when
il was certain that no further advance
could ne made the boring at this spot
was reluctantly abandoned.
The expedition then determined to
| try the outer or seaward side of the
beach, and spot was found where the
coral rock seemed to be harder and more
promising. Accordingly, trial pits
were sunk, and the apparatus and en-
gines brought round to this side of the
island. The landing of the plant on the
1
with great difficulty. so, while some of
the machinery was brought round by
water, the rest. including the boilers,
which were rolled bodily along the
beach by natives, was taken overland.
News had meanwhile been sent to Sid
ney, N S. w, where the authorities very
kindly sent out additional boring ma
chinery. which, however. failed to ar
rive in time On the outer side, then.
of the coral ring, boring was recon-
menced, and carried to depth of some
re feet. But the difficulties here We're
even greater then they had been on the
other side. Had the carbonate diamond
drill encountered the hardest rock, il
could have cut through it with ease
But no such solid material was found
At a depth Of SO feet coral rock was
found, but it was far from solid, and
being full of holes, either filled with
sand or empty, it was almost impossible
to bore through it. As fast as the sane
was pumped out, fresh supplies flowed
in. choked the tubes, clogged the drill
and eventually rendered it utterly i'm
possible for the most powerful drill to
penetrate further. The boring tubes
were pushed down some 20 feet by main
force, but were interrupted by blocks
of coral rock. In short, the water useC
for lubricating purposes flowed out, anc
sand poured into the hole, and it was evi
dent that further progress was impos
sible. So the second boring was aban
doned at a lesser depth than had beer
attained in the first instance, and thu
expedition left Funafuti at the end O
Julv-LOndOn Times.