332 SAWAU AND OTHER STATIONS. [1840. 



debouchure of the Wai-levu river. There are three passages 

 through the encircling reefs, inside of which the water is 

 deep and the anchorage secure. The town of Rewa is three 

 miles up the river, on an island, in the midst of an alluvial 

 tract formed of the detritus washed down from the highlands 

 in the interior. This low ground, though subject to frequent, 

 inundations, is exceedingly productive. Dense thickets of 

 mangrove-bushes, in some places almost impervious, alternate 

 with copses of palms, and groves of bread-fruits and cocoas ; 

 the valleys and ravines that divide the hilly range along the 

 coast are concealed beneath the thrifty vegetation ; and above 

 them are spread out the wide patches of deep green verdure 

 extending to the red cliffs of the distant mountains. In the 

 vicinity of the town there are cultivated gardens and fields, 

 not, indeed, affording very strong evidence in favor of the 

 skill and industry of the husbandman, but, as if in sheer spite, 

 fairly teeming with their almost spontaneous products. The 

 open spaces are crowded with bananas ; the shade trees afford 

 both protection and nourishment, and 



" rich fruits o'erhang 

 The sloping walks, and odorous shrubs entwine 

 Then - undulating branches." 



Rewa contains a larger population than Ambau ; the num- 

 ber of its inhabitants is about five thousand, while that of 

 the latter is only three thousand. The natives there also 

 seem better disposed, and a residence among them is more 

 desirable, inasmuch as there are a number of abandoned 

 whites at Ambau who have corrupted the original inhabitants, 

 and made them, if possible, still worse than they formerly 

 were. 



Mbenga is nearly divided in two by the harbor of Sawau, 

 which faces to the north, and is about two miles deep. The 

 entrance is narrow, being only a quarter of a mile from head- 

 land to headland, but it immediately opens out to a mile in 

 width, and contains from foui; to ten fathoms of water. 

 There aro several small villages lying around the harbor, each 



