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CENTRAL POLYNESIA.

No. 12.  

A GAZETTEER OF CENTRAL POLYNESIA-(CONTINUED). [Abbreviations.-For the Fijian Archipelago-Fi :, for the   Samoan Archipelago-Sa :, for the Vaitupu Group-Vai :, for the Tongese Archipelago-T :, for the Hervey Group-Her :, for the Marquesas Archipelago-Mar :, for the Society Isles-Soc :, for the Georgian Group-Geo :, for the Austral Group-Aust :, and for the Paumotus Archipelago- Pau :. By observing these abbreviations after the name of any island it maybe seen whether it forms part of any of these larger groups and archipelagos, and

further and more elaborate information relative thereto be readily

obtained.]

FAAITE, Pau : (or Faite, also called Mylordowitch I). A lagoon  

island to the NNE. of Anaa (or Chain I), between Fakarawa to the NW. and Takauea to the SE. Has an entrance to lagoon at WNW. extremity, * latitude 16-40 S., longitude 145-10 W.

This entrance is tolerably wide, and a vessel of considerable   burden, by watching opportunity, might be taken in and moored in safety. From this harbour the SE. entrance of Fakarawa

(the course NW. by N. by compass) is distant 12 miles. Popu-

lation about 60 souls.

FAEATAE, Pau : A lagoon island SE. of Heeow (Bow I), one of

a group in which there are (according to the author of "Rovings in the Pacific") eight other islands, respectively named Pinaki, Uoapuni, Uairatea, Moru, Nukutivaki, Uoakiaki, and Reau. The language spoken by these people is not intel- ligible to the people of Heeow. Faeatae lies N. and S., about 10 miles in length, and 8 in breadth. Present population about 100 souls. The people resemble those of Heeow, but are more wild and savage. Lies, according to the above authority, in latitude 18-46 S., longitude 138-50 W.  

FACARDINS, Pau : Properly Les Quatre Facardins. A name

given by Bougainville to Nukutawake, on its discovery by him

in 1768. See Nukutawake.

FAFINE, T : A long, low, and sandy islet inside the barrier reef

of Vavau ; on the southern side, near Bagimotu. FAIOA, T : A sandy islet on the E. side of Vavau.

FAITH I. Pau : A small lagoon island, N. of Matilda Island, and

S. of Teku, or Barrow Island. Native name, if any, unknown ; probably uninhabited. Lies in * latitude 21-10 S., longitude 138-50 W. FAKAAFO, Union Group (Also called by the natives Fanua

loa, or the Great Land, and by Wilkes named Bowditch Island.) An island of coral formation, triangular in form, with its apex to the S. Eight miles in length from N. to S., and about four   miles wide; lying 135 miles SE. of Oatafu, the Duke of York's Island of Byron : 300 miles N. of the Samoan Archipelago, and 500 to the E. of the Vaitupu Group. It is larger and more im- portant than any of the other islands of the Union Group, and over them its chief exercises a certain degree of control. On the   N W. and N. points the land is of considerable elevation, and on the E. are extensive groves of cocoanut trees and shrubbery. The scenery in many parts is of surpassing beauty, equalling all that the imagination has pictured, or even can picture, of these paradises of the ocean with their balmy climate and luxuriant foliage. The population of   Fakaafo is about six hundred ; they are a friendly, gentle, and good humoured people, but extremely timid. In form, fea- tures, complexion, and language, they bear a considerable re- semblance to the Samoans, but although neither barbarous nor   deficient in natvral intelligence, are in many things far behind their southern neighbours. The younger portion of the commu- nity go entirely naked, but the more advanced in life wear the maro, a sort of apron, which with the men is only from 16 to 18 inches wide, but which in the case of the females is of a prepos- terous size, and presents a very ridiculous appearance. The Fakaafoans do not cultivate the soil, but live chiefly upon its spontaneous products (which include cocoanuts) and on the pro- duce of the sea ; and that these sources afford them sufficient sus- tenance is proved by the healthiness of their looks. They are a well formed, handsome, and ingenious people, exhibiting great taste and dexterity in the manufacture of various small articles, such as fish hooks, boxes, working implements, saws, flies, and drills; formed of rude materials, but well adapted for their purposes. They manufacture, also, a superior kind of matting of sleeping on and for clothing. On Fakaafo is the temple of the principal deity of the natives of the Union Group, Tui- Tokelau, who is probably to be identified with the Tangaloa, &c., of the other light-coloured, or Amphinesian, races in Central Polynesia. Fakaafo was discovered by Captain Hudson, of the United States Exploring Expedition, on the 29th Janu-   ary, 1841, and is laid down by him in (N. Pt.) latitude 9-20 S.,   and longitude 171-4 W. For further particulars as to the natives, &c., of this island and others of the same cluster, see

Union Group.

FAKARAWA Pau : (or Faarava, also called Wittgenstein's Island.)

A coral island 30 miles in length, N. of Anaa, and NE. of Tahiti. Lies between the two coral islands of Toau and Faaite. Has two entrances to its lagoon, one at the NW., and another at the SE. extremity, * latitude 16-25 S., longitude 145-30 W. centre.   FALLAFEJIA T : Properly Kalafejia, to which refer.

FANFOUE, Sa : A name erroneously applied by M. De La Perouse

to Oloosinga, to which refer.   FANUA FOOU. T : A sandy islet on the S. side of Vavau.  

FANUA LAI, T : (Also written Funua or Fonua lai.) Name most

commonly used by natives for Amargura, the island volcano, to

which refer.

FANUA LOA, Union Group. (Fonua loa.) Name sometimes applied by natives to Fakaafo, to which refer. The meaning of  

this designation, in this and perhaps the preceding instance, is

simply the great or larger land.

FANUA ONIONI, T : A cocoanut islet inside the barrier reef of

Vavau, on the SW. side of that island.

FANUA TAPU, Sa : One of four small islands called fish islands,

at the eastern extremity of Upolu. See Fish Islands.

FANUA UNGA, T : A sandy islet on the S. side of Vavau.

FATOU HIVA, Mar : (or La Magdalena, also written Fetuiva,

Futahiva, Futihiva, &c.) One of the SE. group of the Mar- quesas, rising to the height of 3670 feet above the sea level The most southerly of all the Marquesas. Lies to the S. of Hivaoa (La Dominica) and Moutane (San Pedro), and to the SE. of Taouata, or Santa Christina. See Nominal List, under the

head of Marquesas.       FATU KOTU, Pau : (Egmont I. of Wallis). Two coral islets W.

of Aki Aki and Temaitu Leiwnwan, and SW. of Nukutawake and Pukerua. The shores of Fatu Kotu are almost inaccessible. Thinly inhabited by a race resembling those of Nukutawake. Captain Beechey, who visited this island in 1825, fixed its lati- tude and longitude as follows:-N. extremity, latitude 19-22-59 S.; longitude, 139-12-03 W. ; SW. extremity,  

latitude 19-24-26 S.; longitude. 139-14-34W.    

FEARN I. An island described as lying a few miles ESE. or

Matthews I. See Physical Atlas.

FENUA-URA. The native name, according to Ellis, for a few

barren islets resting on a coral foundation, and lying about 300 miles W. of the Society Isles, in latitude 16-28-0 S., longitude 155-24-45 W. They are usually called the Scilly Isles, which

see.  

FETOU-HOUKOU, Mar : (or Fetougou, Fetuuku, &c.-the

Hood's Island of Cook.) One of the SE. group of the Mar- quesas Islands, lying N. of Hivaoa or Dominica. Said to be un- inhabited ; consists of a single high rock rising to the height of 1180 feet, flat at the summit, with a gentle inclination from N. to S. Lies in latitude 9-25 S., longitude 138-57 W.    

FETOU-OUHOU, Mar : One of the NW. group of the Marquesas

Islands, lying probably N. or Hiaou. Possibly the same as the

Robert's Island of Coulter end others. FETUIVA, Mar : See Fatou-hiva.

FIJIAN ARCHIPELAGO, Fi : The Fijian Archipelago lies between

latitude 15-30 and 19-30 S., and longitude 177-E., and 178- W.,   300 miles NW, of Tongatabu; about 1800 miles NE. by E. of Sydney, New South Wales, and 500 miles WSW. of Samoa. It comprises, besides two large and populous islands, each over 300 miles in circumference - a great number or smaller islands of different sizes, hereafter enumerated (and elsewhere more particularly described) of which eighty, or thereabouts, are in- habited. The aggregate population of this group, as of others in Central Polynesia, has been variously estimated ; but is, pro- bably more than 200,000 souls. They are considered (with an admixture of the Malayo-Polynesian, or as an ethnologist would term it, the Amphinesian element, chiefly observable in the upper classes) to be a branch of the Oriental negro, or Kelaeno- nesian stock ; having a close affinity to those aboriginal black races (commonly known as Papuans. Oriental Negroes, Ne- gritos, &c.) of which remnants are still occasionally to be met    

with in parts of Protonesia, but at present almost exclusively occupying New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the New Hebrides, &c. ;-the whole in fact of that area comprehended by the French under the name of Melanesia, and extending into the Pacific in these latitudes as far as the most eastern  

island in the large and important series now under consideration. The ancient traditions of the Tongese - a neighbouring Malayo-Polynesian people, who have for many years past taken a more or less  

active interest in Fijian affairs-state that the progenitors of this race - darker than themselves, and, comparatively speaking, black-first came into their present locality from the westward, but as to their actual origin there is still great difference of opinion amongst the learned, which an accurate knowledge of the arts, manners, customs, language, and oral history of Fiji have, as yet, tended rather to increase than to diminish. Placed on the extreme limits of the areas of Melanesia and Polynesia Proper, the Fijian nation seem to partake in the different and apparently dissimilar characteristics of both of the two great stocks inabit- ing the Island World; but, what is somewhat perplexing, to have at the same time certain marked peculiarities of their own. Their (indigenous) civilisation is, in a moral point of view, at a very low ebb, notwithstanding which they are certainly far ad- vanced in their own arts and manufactures, and in some-pottery and canoe-making for example-evince a taste, skill, and energy unsurpassed by any tribe in the Pacific. They construct bridges, temples, and towns-sometimes for the defence of the latter even building rude but strong fortifications of stone. (a) Their worst features, (where the benevolent exertions of the missionary have not yet taught them better things,) is a most detestable predeliction for cannibalism ; not to speak of these other cruel and debasing practices which arise as natural consequences from their present degraded heathen state. Amongst such may be instanced their appalling and inhuman custom of burying men alive, and especially the sick and aged-the whole- sale strangulation of widows-cold blooded and diabolical mur- ders of large numbers at the launching of their large canoes, (a) As an instance of the singular intelligence and observation of the native Fijian mind, it may not be here irrelevant to remark that they have invented designations for the different stars and constellations. Thus Kalo-i-vola-siga is the morning star, &c., and our Southern Cross is by them termed Ga (or the Duck). Cer- tain stars in the group, to which we apply the name of Orion, they call Buliveicula (or the Needles), and others Iri or Iribuli (the

Fan). Besides these they distinguish others, such as Cumu (the Fish), Lairo (the Land Crab), &c., of which the respective applica- tion is not known to the writer.

&c.,-and such like matters, from the bare contemplation of which the enlightened mind recoils in astonishment and horror. The Missionaries of Christianity, however, both Wesleyan and Roman-Catholic, have earnestly sought to ameliorate, their  

unhappy condition, by the introduction of a purer faith ; and the success which has attended the untiring       efforts of the former in this Archipelago, is   absolutely marvellous. Thousands, once pagan cannibals, are now professedly Christian, more or less instructed in and obe- dient to the precepts of that holy religion ; and even where  

Christianity has not yet penetrated, its advance is doubtless   felt, and its influence tacitly acknowledged. In effecting this

great and stupendous change, so desirable on all grounds, a

methodical system of great wisdom and forethought has been devised and adopted by the Wesleyan Missionaries, which can, in these limits, be merely adverted to and acknowledged. As an illustration and proof of this, however, mention may here be briefly made of the arrangement by which Seven Divisional Circuits (partaking of a diocesan character) have been established by them in Fiji, viz.-1. Lakemba, 2. Vewa, 3. Bau, 4. Rewa, 5. Ovalau, 6. Nandy, and 7. Bua. Of these circuits the last   six appear to be all more or less organised like Lakemba, which

embraces the whole Eastern Group of the Fijian Archipelago, and is subdivided into seven minor branches. The missionary  

and pastoral duties of the seven larger divisions*, or circuits, above-named, are (1856) zealously and ably discharged by thir-  

teen missionaries ; the church members, or communi- cants, being set down as 2954, the scholars at 6628, and the hearers all, (to a certain extent, at least) re-  

claimed from heathenism and in constant attendance at Christian worship, and exclusive, as it would   seem of church members and scholars) at about ten thousand.   In the large islands, however, Na Viti Levu and Vanua Levu,   except in five places only, heathenism still prevails. It is not improbable however, that even there the daily advance and

immediate propinquity of Christianity may, as has been already intimated, have exercised a certain civilizing and salutary influ-   ence. The Fijian Group, considered with reference to the   Roman Catholic system, at present forms part of the diocese of   the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Oceanie Centrale,(b) whose   episcopal chair is at Apia, on the island of Upolu in the Samoan  

Group.  

The political sections of the Fijian Archipelago are usually   very different in boundaries, extent, and position from its eccle-  

siastical divisions, and, from a variety of circumstances, much less easily defined. They are of the nature of small kingdoms,   or principalities, of various degrees of size and importance.  

The principal of them are Bau, Rewa, Verata, Muthuata, Somu Somu, Naitasiri, Bua, &c. The relative importance, however,   of the Vanua Turanga, or chief ruling places of Fiji, is, from  

time to time, more or less affected by war. No general system of governmental control even in the rudest form pervades the entire group, although the chief of Bau (Thakombau) is now the first amongst his fellows, and once claimed the title of Tui   Viti, or King of Fiji; but, although a chief of  

considerable authority and influence, he has never   been really possessed of that supreme and sovereign power. (See Bau.) There are several other kings,   and chiefs, some of whom are mutually independent of each   other, and others either ngalis or mbatis, more or less subject to   their brother sovereigns. The most successful rivals of the Bau   Chiefs have almost always been those of Rewa, the latter having  

been sometimes victorious over the former, although in their turn, and especially of late years, occasionally hard pressed.   Very recently, however, subsequent even to an armed interven   tion, or rather invasion by the Tongese (in 1855), the star of   Rewa, although then for a short time obscured, has again been  

in the ascendant. One beneficial result of the late troubles has been the partial adoption of Christianity by the people of Rewa,  

and by other places in the Group long obstinately committed to the support of heathenism, and thus disadvantageously opposed   to Bau,-which, since April 1854, has, with her allies, affected,  

vis et armis the championship of Christianity.

The language of Fiji has been deemed to possess many of the characteristics of the dialects of the more eastern portion of Central Polynesia, although in some respects very different from them and all others ; but as to its origin, or even its classifica- tion, the most learned philologists are at issue. Mr. Norris of the R.A.S. describes it " as really a Polynesian dialect through offering peculiarities not found in any other." Mr. Humboldt considers that it will be found very often to coincide with the  

Western (Kelaenonesian) dialects, or the languages of the tribes of Melanesia ; and especially, as might be expected, wherein it   differs from the Malayo Polynesian or Amphinesian idoms of the  

Pacific. Mr. Hale, however, (of the U. S. Exploring Expedi- tion in 1840) who appears to have given the subject considerable attention declares that one-fifth of the words of the Fijian lan- guage, and most of its grammatical peculiarities, are Polynesian -i.e. Malayo Polynesian, or Amphinesian, the remaining four- fifths being unlike those of any idiom which we can as yet identify with any of the languages of Melanesia ; and, more- over, that even of the Amphinesion words found in it, many are so altered, according to certain rules, that no Malayo Polynesian can pronounce them. He also gives us to understand that many Malayo Polynesian words, generally unknown in the rest of this Archipelago, are in ordinary use in the Eastern Group, as being   that part of Fiji nearest the Tonga Islands, and the other groups of the Amphinesian area. It is besides not unworthy of note that the Fijian nation, like those more Central and Eastern in the Pacific, have the curious anomaly of a ceremonious lan- guage in which the modes of expression and names for different matters and things are made to vary in an arbitrary manner ac-  

cording to the rank of the person addressed. The numerals at present in common use are almost entirely   identical with those of the Amphinesian dialects; so similar in fact, as to afford grounds for the conjecture that they have been adopted by the Fijians in the room of some more ancient and imperfect system of their own. The Fijian is said by those well acquainted with it to be a sonorous and manly tongue, exceedingly copious, and far superior to either the Samoan or the Tongese. Not only does it possess appropriate terms for   every passion and emotion of the mind, but it has also names   for every species of plants, trees, fruits, flowers, and animals   found in the group. For a dictionary and grammar of the   Fijian, philologists and others, are indebted (with much other  

valuable information) to the learning and research of the late Reverend D. Hazlewood, who remarks in the preface to his  

dictionary, that there is "nothing in ancient or modern languages analogous to the different forms assumed by the Fijian verb, as regards its terminations; although, in its reduplicated and partly reduplicated forms, and in those expressing casuality and intensity, we have something very similar in the Hebrew." The most obvious peculiarity in the pronunciation of the Fijian appears to be the prefixing of nasal sounds to the three con- sonants, B, N, and G ; to B the sound of M, and to D and G, that of N ; while the great variety of its other elementary sounds is proved by the necessity of employing (in addition to three letters used for foreign words only) at the least twenty  

letters in its alphabet; fourteen being sufficient for the Samoan, and seventeen for the Tongese, or Tongan. For all ordinary   purposes, therefore, it will not be incorrect to view the Fijian as a language radically different from all the cognate Amphinesian  

languages of Polynesia, and probably almost equally well dis- tinguished from those spoken to the westward and north- westward in Melanesia ; at least from such of them of which

anything definite is yet known.

There are four principal classes of society in Fiji, besides the  

tuis, or kings; viz., the chiefs, warriors, matani-vanua (c) (ambassadors), and the Kaisis-common people, or rather

slaves. In addition to these, however, there are many degrees of rank and office, of which a description, in detail, would be beyond our limits. One of the many peculiarities of Fijian society is the relation by which one chief is vasu, or a sort of hereditary family friend, to another in a different part of the   group; an institution which bears some analogy to the Sij'oç; and itpo%t VOQ of the ancient Greeks ; involving a necessity for the reciprocal performance of certain duties, and entitling the

possessor to many important privileges.  

The Fijian deities, and the mythological legends therewith connected, appear to have little (if anything) in common with those known amongst what Dr. Latham calls the Amphinesian,

or brown races of Polynesia. One of the principal gods is   Ndengei, an idealization of the Spirit of Evil, wor- shipped under the form of a serpent, and-next to Ove, the Creator-the most generally feared and acknowledged.   There are also many inferior deities, some of them local, and others more widely recognised,-such as Rutumaimbulu, Mainata-vasara, Ranusimano, Rokova, Tui-lakemba, Tokai- Rambe, &c. Also deified men or heroes, to whom after death divine honours have been paid and ascribed. Respecting all of these gods and demons there are voluminous traditions, more or less wild and extraordinary, and amongst them a curiously   circumstantial account of an universal deluge.(d) All Fijians have a firm belief in some future state, and that their lot therein will depend upon the will and pleasure of the gods. The name given by them to the world of spirits varies in the different islands, but many call it Bulu, a term probably synonymous with the Bulotu of the Tongese. In their state of existence after this life, they believe that they will have to undergo a  

second death. It is remarkable, too, that the Fijians are not idolaters, in the strict sense of the term, although carved figures are occasionally to be found in their temples. Their serpent worship finds a parallel amongst the more western peuplades in the Melanesian area-in Arossi, or San Christoval, for instance, where we learn from the accurate Verguet that the Arossians also worship a serpent, under the name of Akaro.  

The tabu system prevails in Fiji to as great an extent as in any other part of the Pacific, but, although the intervention of the priests is therein sometimes invoked, appears to be almost en- tirely a civil institution, the power of which is in the hands of

the chiefs. Polygamy is universally practised, except amongst   the very lowest classes; but much of that profligacy as regards   sexual intercourse, unhappily so common in Malayo-Polynesian   Islands, is here comparatively unknown.  

The extremes of temperature during the year are from 58° to 100° in the shade ; but the nights are usually cool, frequently so even when no dew falls. In the summer months the heat continues intense for many days in succession, often moderated however during some part of the day by a delightful sea breeze. The character of the Fijian is generally described as proud, Irascible, treacherous, and vindictive ; haughty to his inferiors, servile to his superiors, and rarely (especially if speaking fair words) to be trusted. In his countenance the distinctive features   of the Malayo Polynesian and the Papuan seem to be blended. Generally speaking, this singular people are of a much more dusky hue than the Tongese Islanders, although a great variety in this respect is often to be observed, some being as fair as the lightest mulatto, and others dark as the sootiest negro. The forms of both sexes are cast in a fine mould, and unlike the Amphinesians, corpulence amongst them is of very unfrequent occurrence. Their foreheads are high but often narrow, their noses well formed though large, and their teeth white and evenly set. There is a considerable inter-lsland traffic carried on by the natives themselves, throughout the Fijian Archi- pelago, to which the Tongese resort from their neighbouring group in considerable numbers, their principal object being usually to obtain canoes,-which can be built by and for them

in Fiji far superior to those they can by any possibility con-  

struct at home.

The productions of Fiji (of which a hasty list only can be given) are, chiefly as follows :  

Of those which are not edible.-Turmeric (curcumia); tobacco; cocoanut oil ; cotton-nankeen and white,-and also the cotton tree (Glossypium herbaceum) ; the paper mulberry (Brous- sonetia papyrifera) ; bamboo ; tree fern ; rattan ; pine or dackui ; ironwood (Casuarina Indica) called by the nativas Toa ; sandal- wood or yasi, now very scarce ; tortoise shell, &c., &c.    

Of those which are edible. -Bread fruits, nine different kinds,   of which the umbudu is the largest and best,-the otta bot, and bocudo varieties being also highly esteemed ; the banana; the plantain ; the fae, or wild plantain ; cocoanuts of three kinds ; chesnuts. (Inocarpus edulis) ; the pappaw apple; shaddocks; the bitter orange ; the common or white man's orange ; the taravou

(b) The missionaries at present engaged in making converts to  

the Roman Catholic faith are, at Fiji, and several other parts of Central Polynesia, Frenchmen ; a circumstance which (since the fall of Tahiti in 1842, and the consequent unpopularity of the French Nation in the Central Pacific) has unhappily proved in many respects a serious impediment to the benevolent efforts of these gentlemen for the evangelization of the heathen. Many ob- stacles in the path of their disinterested enterprise might doubt- less be removed, if the Roman Catholic phasis of Christianity were not, in this part of the world, so exclusively identified with French people and French interests. This national odium would, it is respectfully suggested, be removed if the inhabitants were to see British Roman Catholic Missionaries assisting in the same good cause. Surely the numerous, intelligent, and wealthy Roman Catholic communities, resident in the British colonies of Australia and New Zealand, might obviate this very unnecessary difficulty by stepping forward to the assistance of their foreign co-reli- gionists. A prompt and influential infusion of the British element into the Roman Catholic Missions in the Pacific, would, without at all disturbing ecclesiastical arrangements, indisputably prove to the natives, that the French Missionaries are concerned for the promotion of an ancient and general form of Christianity-not, as now supposed, for little more than thr propagandism of a French

political interest.  

(c) Matani-vanua signifies literally " the eyes of the land ;" they act as heralds, or ambassadors of the ruling chiefs, and are  

treated with much deference.

(d) The ancient Hawaiians and Tahitians had also traditions of a great flood. See Ellis, vol. I., page 387, &c.

the indava, a fruit about the size of a hen's egg ; a kind of tomato (Solanum) about the size of a peach ; the lemon ; the Malay apple; the nutmeg (Myristica) ; pumpkins ; cucumbers ; cape gooseberries ; the guava ; pineapples ; water melons ; red capsicums ; the yam (dioscorea) of which there are several varieties, one growing wild ; an edible root called Kawai, re- sembling the Malay batata ; a wild root called ivia ; the taro ; arrowroot (Marauta arundinacea) growing wild ; the sugar canw ; the ti, a saccharine reed ; beche de mer ; balolo or sea worm ; and fish of all kinds, fowls, swine, &c., &c.

The Fijian Archipelago is well watered. In the two largest islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, there are considerable rivers, navigable for some distance by boats and small vessels.   At the western extremity of Vanua Levu, Bua Bay receives the  

waters of two or three rivers of this class, one of which is 200 feet wide near its month. Wailevu, or Peale's River, is the most important stream on Na Viti Levu. It rises in the table land of the interior, being according to the natives the outlet of a large lake there, and, after falling over a precipice of seven hundred feet in height, divides into two navigable branches, about 43 miles, in a winding course, from its mouth. The principal branch enters the sea at Rewa, on the south side of Na Viti Levu, and the other disembogues at Indimbi, on the same side of the Island but ten miles further west.  

There is also a navigable entrance to this river, of a smaller size and less depth, from the Bay of Bau, nearly opposite to that island ; this channel probably unites itself at no great distance from the coast with the principal, or Rewa Branch of the Wailevu. For eight miles above Rewa, this river is lined by rich alluvial flats, intersected by a great number of creeks, either tributaries to the main stream, or diverging from it.

The Fiji Islands are of volcanic origin, the evidences of which are so abundant and so general that it is hardly necessary to refer to them in detail. There are a number of tall, sharp pointed, conical hills, which at no very remote age were the  

craters of active volcanos, although no running streams of lava have been discovered, the only indications of volcanic heat being the Waicama, or hot springs of Savu Savu and Gau. The de- composition of the volcanic conglomerate, lava, &c., which every- where abound, renders the country one of surpassing fertility, the proportion of the unproductive land to that suitable for til- lage being extremely small. The scenery in Fiji is very beau- tiful ; sometimes of a bold and sublime character, sometimes of a more sylvan nature. Flowering plants and shrubs are quite   common, and exist in such numbers and variety as almost to

defy description.

E. R.

Digitisation generously supported by
Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation
Digitisation generously supported by

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