106 



EXCURSION INTO THE 



order to get their monthly transactions, which may be directed to the 

 First Section of our Society. 



Every department at the Exhibition at Paris offered abundant mate- 

 rial for learning, and the merit of the French Government cannot be 

 acknowledged sufficiently. I seize the present opportunity to express 

 my most dutiful thanks to his Serene Highness the Prince President, 

 and to his Excellency the Minister of the Interior, for the official mis- 

 sion I was entrusted with, and which rendered it possible for me to 

 study in detail particularly the economy of the forest, agriculture, and 

 the professions connected with it. 



Excursion into the Interior of Naviti Levue, the principal of the Fee- 

 JEe Islands; being extracts of a Letter from Mr. Milne, Botanist 

 of H.M.S. Herald, during the Survey of those Islands under Captain 

 Denham, R.N., dated Island of Ovolau, Feejee, Oct. 7, 1856. 



In my last letter from Sydney, dated May 21st, I mentioned that I 

 anticipated another journey into the interior of Naviti Levue. A party 

 was formed by Captain Denham, consisting of Dr. M'Donald, the Kev. 

 Mr. Waterhouse, and Dagual, the Captain's coxswain. We finally left 

 the ship, in one of our own boats, on Friday, the 13th of August, well 

 supplied with calico, hatchets, knives, etc., to clear all expenses with 

 the natives in the interior. The first day we arrived at Bau. 



Saturday, Aug. \Uh.~ We left Bau in a large double-canoe, having a 

 single-canoe and a small dingy in company. As we entered the river, the 

 country was flat and somewhat undulating, and more or less in a state 

 of cultivation. On ascending the stream, nothing could be more en- 

 chanting ; both sides were one mass of Mangrove-bushes, with their 

 adventitious roots hanging to the surface of the water. Here and there 

 were Breadfruit-trees, showing their incised foliage, with the fruit in 

 a state of formation. Much more striking were the Cocoa-nut and a 

 stately Palm, a species of Areca. We called at several towns 'visited 

 their heathen temples, obtained a great deal of information in re-ard 

 to the residence of their gods. To dwell upon such topics woukfnot 

 be botany. But I must restrict myself as much as possible to the 

 vegetation of the country. As we ascended the stream, the features of 

 the land continued much the same; at intervals the fresh-water fish 



