230 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



strances, he remained a determined heathen. This continued so 

 long as he was prosperous ; but when, in 1854, tribe after tribe had 

 successfully rebelled against him, he began to listen more favor- 

 ably to the counsels of the Christians. On the 30th of April of 

 that year he gave orders that the great drums at his capital, 

 which had been used till then to summon his people to cannibal 

 feasts, should be beaten to call them together at the mission 

 house to worship the true God. Two years later, having remained 

 true to his new faith, he was united in Christian marriage to his 

 favorite wife, and they were together baptized. 



It was the same king who, at a later period, finding himself 

 a mere puppet in the hands of foreigners, who had formed them- 

 selves into a government, of which he was the nominal head, 

 brought about a general appeal from the most powerful chiefs to 

 England's Queen for protection an appeal which was, in 1874, 

 listened to with favor. Upon this occasion Thakombau sent to 

 Queen Victoria his favorite war club, which he himself styled 

 " the former, and until recently the only known, law of Fiji.'' 



The territory thus acquired by the British Empire comprises 

 over two hundred islands of various sizes, some seventy-five of 

 which are inhabited. The largest, Viti Levu, is oval in form, and 

 has an area nearly equal to that of the State of Connecticut. 

 Vanua Levu, lying to the northeast of Viti Levu, rather exceeds 

 Delaware in size. Between these two islands, which are by far 

 the largest in the group, is a channel some thirty miles in width ; 

 but the sea here, as well as over an immense area to the north, is 

 so full of coral patches that navigation is exceedingly dangerous. 

 The southern shores of the islands are more accessible, and afford 

 many excellent harbors, of which that of Suva, the English capi- 

 tal, on the southeast coast of Viti Levu, is the best. 



The study of the difference in the character of the northern 

 and southern aspects of the larger islands affords an interesting 

 lesson in physical geography. Thrust upward into the currents 

 of the southeast trade winds to a height of over four thousand feet, 

 the mountain ranges act as huge condensers, precijjitating in 

 torrents of rain the moisture which these currents have absorbed 

 from the open sea. This condensation takes place principally as 

 the winds blow up the southern mountain slopes, so that com- 

 paratively little rain falls upon the north side of the islands. 

 The largest streams, therefore, flow back down the southern 

 slopes to the sea, where they discharge immense volumes of fresh 

 water. As fresh water is fatal to most species of coral polyps, we 

 find here, along the southern coast, comparatively few of those 

 dangerous reefs that fringe the islands on the north. 



The fertility of the soil, which in the valleys and on all the 

 southern slopes is thoroughly saturated with moisture, is quite 



