301 



CHAPTER XIII. 



FIJI ISLANDS. 



Position and Area of the Islands of the Group. Kandavu Island. Grind- 

 stones for Stone Adzes. Shooting Birds in the Woods. Terrestrial 

 Hermit Crabs. Visit to a Barrier Reef. Ovalau Island. Excursion 

 to Livoni. Fijian Convicts. Log Drum. Native Hairdressing. 

 Kaava Drinking. Buying Stone Adzes. Excursion to Mbau Island. 

 Structure of the Island. Na vatani tawaki. Relics of Cannibalism. 

 Interview with King Thackombau. Connection of Wooden Drums 

 and Bells. Excursion up the Wai Levu. Sugar Plantations at Viti. 

 Freshwater Sharks. Joe the Pilot. Fijian Fortifications and Tombs. 

 A Chief's House and his Children. A Missionary Meeting. Various 

 Modes of Painting the Body. Grand Dancing Performances. Primi- 

 tive Origin of Music, Poetry, and the Drama. Wesleyan Missionary. 

 Albino Native. Congregation of Races at Levuka. Fijian Modes of 

 Expression. Laughter. Cicatrization. The Ula. Particulars con- 

 cerning Cannibalism. 



Fiji Islands, July 25th to August 11th, 1S?4. — We arrived at 

 Kandavu Island, Fiji, on July 25th, and stayed at Fiji till 

 August 10 th, the ship making a short trip to Levuka in Ovalau, 

 and returning to Kandavu to complete a survey of the harbour. 

 Ngaloa Bay. 



The Fiji Group is scattered over an area of about 40,000 

 square miles on either side of the meridian of 180° W., between 

 lats. 16° and 20° E. The meridian of 180°, roughly speaking, 

 runs northward through the western end of the Aleutian chain, 

 and between Bearing's Straits and Kamschatka, and southward, 

 passes just to the east of New Zealand. In latitude, the Fijis 

 correspond roughly with Tahiti, Bio Janeiro and Bodriguez. In 

 the northern hemisphere with St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, 

 St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands, and Bombay. 



The land surface of the Fijis is about 7,000 square miles in 

 area, or about 1,000 square miles in excess of that of Yorkshire, 

 and there are about 150 islands in the group, excluding the very 



