Note 11 — Chapter II · ON THE EVIDENCE OF EMERGENCE OR OF UPHEAVAL AT THE SEA-BORDERS.

This, however, is not the case with the recent changes at the mouth of the Rewa River in Viti Levu, where the bare sandy point of Lauthala has extended itself seaward between 500 and 600 yards since 1840, whilst Port Nukulau has shoaled a fathom in the same period. But I can find no evidence of any marked advance in the mangrove margins either towards Nukulau or on the Kamba side, the only change recognisable being in the bare sandy point of Lauthala, the rapid extension of which has been such as to attract the attention of residents, both whites and natives. Dana, who was in this locality in 1840, remarks in the Geology of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, that he had learned from a person who had resided there for forty years that during this period the deposits had lengthened the river half a mile. When I was on the Rewa in 1897 I heard that the natives in old time could see Suva Point from Rewa. This is probably a native legend connected with the modern extension of Lauthala Point. (The charts compared in making the above measurement of the recent advance of this point were the plan of the Rewa Roads by Wilkes, in 1840, and the Admiralty charts 1757 and 905, the former of which was based on Lieut. Dawson’s survey in 1875, the last being corrected to 1897.)