328 viti-levui. [1640. 



ference. The coast country partakes of the same general 

 features characteristic of the other members of the group ; 

 mud flats alternating with swelling bluffs along the shore, 

 but soon giving place to a succession of richly carpeted hills 

 and plains stretching away to the lofty volcanic peaks of the 

 interior, that tower above the surrounding landscape to the 

 height of four or five thousand feet. 



Viti-levui, about thirty-five miles south of the western end 

 of Vanua-levui, is somewhat smaller and less hilly than the 

 "large land." It is nearly of a circular form; on the west 

 the country is comparatively low, being broken only by a 

 few hills, scarcely ever rising above the height of five or 

 seven hundred feet ; but far in the interior there are lofty 

 ranges of blue mountains, running from north to south, that 

 attain an elevation of four or five thousand feet. — Ovolau 

 lies off the east end, and in sight of Viti-levui : it is eight 

 miles long, from north to south, and seven miles in width ; 

 it is intersected by a range of mountainous peaks, the tallest 

 of which is twenty-three hundred feet above the sea, and 

 from its base, gently undulating slopes, divided by lovely val- 

 leys, all adorned with magnificent groves of bread-fruits and 

 cocoas, stretch down to the sea-shore. — Malolo, lying off the 

 western point of Viti-levui, and inside the same great reef, is 

 a small circular island, remarkable only for the unfortunate 

 celebrity it has acquired as the scene of the murder of two 

 of the most promising officers of the American Exploring 

 Expedition. 



The island of Mbenga, five miles south of Viti-levui, is 

 five miles long and three wide ; the land rises boldly on all 

 sides towards the interior, terminating in two prominent basal- 

 tic peaks thirteen hundred feet above the sea level. Twenty- 

 six miles further to the south is Kantavu, one of the most 

 important and densely populated islands in the whole group ; 

 it is likewise high and mountainous, and about twenty-five 

 miles in length. — Twenty miles a little to the south of east 

 from Ovolau, is Nairai, an oblong island seven miles in length 

 and from two to three miles wide, and particularly famous 



