Wednesday, September 24, 1924. Lomaloma and South end Vanua Mbalavu. Up anchor at 5:30 and underway for Lomaloma. Anchored there at 7:05. The hills toward the southern end of Vanua Mbalava are grassy with summit caps and the valleys lined with trees. Lomaloma harbor is well sheltered. It lies directly west of the rounded, coconut covered islet, Yanu Yanu. To the north are two patches of coral, [illegible] to the south another and a long coral point runs west from the west point of the islet; forming a very complete breakwater around a small basin with deep water right up to the beach. Lomaloma village has seen better days. At one time it was the business center for the copra trade of Fiji. This was about 30 to 40 years ago. At that time there were seven hotels on the beach, a wharf, numbers of white people and a constant string of large sailing vessels coming and going. Today except for being the headquarters of the resident commissioner it does not amount to much. There is one small store of the Lau Traders Ltd. The village is really two villages. The northern one is Lomaloma - the Fijian village. The southern one - a continuation of the other has a separate buli (chief) and distinct population - all Tongans; even the name is different, Sawana. Behind the town the grassy ridges rise on three sides. The government offices are toward the north end of the village with the resident commissioner's house on a small hill behind. Mr. K. J. Allardyce, the resident commissioner, was out of town, but his clerk, a well educated Tongan was in the office. Dropped in to see what general information I could get on Lau. Found that they had taken a census last year (1923), but that there was no copy on file. A tremendous amount of paper work passes through the clerk's hands. He has to handle the marriage certifi- cates, death and birth records, legal proceedings, and taxes for the whole of Lau. Ascended the slope back of the village. It is covered with the usual