1840.] AMBAU AND EEWA. 331 



directly upon the bay, and close beside them is a stream of 

 fresh water. The natives resort to these springs to boil their 

 food : particularly when they make great feasts ; one of them 

 is held sacred, and none but human victims, whose bleaching 

 bones are piled around in heaps, are cooked in it; they also 

 attribute healing qualities to the waters, which are doubtless 

 real to some extent. — Mbua Bay was formerly much frequented 

 by foreigners to procure the odorous sandal-wood that was 

 once found in abundance on its borders, but the supply is now 

 nearly exhausted, and it has consequently diminished in im- 

 portance. The bay is of a circular shape, and affords ample 

 anchorage at some distance from the shore ; yet it is filled 

 with reefs, and the country around is quite low, though soon 

 rising into picturesque ridges and peaks as you advance into 

 the interior. The principal town in the adjacent district is 

 Vaturna, which lies about a mile up the large river before 

 mentioned : it contains from fifty to sixty houses, and several 

 mbures, or temples ; the inhabitants are more kind and hos- 

 pitable than in many of the other towns, which is probably to 

 be attributed to their frequent intercourse with the whites. 

 Muthuata, on the north side of Vanua-levui is a pretty town, 

 having a fine harbor, which is protected from the north winds 

 by an island of the same name. 



The most important harbors in Viti-levui, are the Bay of 

 Ambau, and the roadstead of Rewa, at the mouth of the Wai- 

 levu river. The former is at the south-eastern point of the 

 island : the anchorage is much obstructed by the coral reefs 

 and shoals, and vessels of large draught cannot approach near 

 the shore. Within the bay are two small islands, Ambau 

 and Viwa, connected with the main land, which is about a 

 mile distant, by coral flats or reefs. Both are well covered 

 with houses, but the town of Ambau is considerably the 

 most populous, and in a political point of view possesses 

 greater importance than any other town in the Feejee Islands. 

 The harbor of Rewa is just round the point of the island 

 from Ambau, but hardly ten»miles distant from it over land. 

 It is formed bv two small islands and their reefs, fronting the 



