330 HARBORS AND TOWNS. [1S40 



(2.) Most of the harbors in the Feejee Group are, like 

 those of the Society Islands, mere indentations in the coast 

 outline, protected by the encircling reefs of coral. Probably 

 the best of them all is that of Levuka, on the east side of 

 Ovolau, which is safe and easy of access for vessels of the 

 largest class. The town contains about forty houses, and, 

 after the prevailing fashion, is located in the midst of a grove 

 of bread-fruits and cocoas, whose feathery canopies afford a 

 most delightful shade ; its site is a beautiful valley, through 

 which courses a fine stream of fresh water, opening to the 

 ocean, flanked on either side by verdant hills, and rising by 

 a gradual ascent to the lofty peaks of basalt that bound the 

 view to the west. Most of the foreign residents make this 

 their place of abode, and the society is altogether better than 

 that of any other place in the group. 



In the two principal islands there are a number of large 

 bays. Vanuii-levui has Natava Bay on the east, Savu Bay 

 on the south, and Mbua, or Sandal-wood Bay, at the west 

 end. Natava Bay is much the largest of the three, and 

 has a number of towns on its borders ; it is bounded on the 

 south-east by Rambe Island, and byPoint Unda on the north- 

 west ; it is spacious, and sufficiently easy of access, but con- 

 tains a great many hidden reefs and sunken patches of 

 coral. Savu-Savu Bay is ten miles long, from east to west, 

 and five miles in breadth; it is a fine sheet of deep water, 

 surrounded by high broken ridges which unite in the rear in 

 a saddle-shaped peak. There are several towns in the vicin- 

 ity, and the district contains over two thousand inhabitants. 

 It was at one time more thickly settled than it now is, and 

 the remains of some of the strongest fortifications in the 

 Feejee Group may be seen here. Its principal attractions, 

 however, are the hot springs, impregnated with salt and sul- 

 phur, which ooze from the ground like those of New Zealand, 

 and cover an area of nearly half a mile square. They lie 



of forty-eight miles from its mouth. The natives informed the party that it was 

 the outlet of a large lake in the interior, but the formation of the country doe3 

 not favor the idea in the least 



