fiji islands. 32;; 



and in occasional flood time pouring so much fresh water into 

 the sea, that ships at anchor three miles off its entrance are 

 able to take in their store of drinking-water from the water 

 alongside them.* Dana calculates the volume of water poured 

 in Eewa Harbour at 500,000 cubic feet per minute, and that 

 discharged by all the mouths of the river together at 1,500,000 

 cubic feet. The area of the Delta is 60 square miles. 



The mangrove thickets had ceased before the main river 

 was reached, and here above Navusa the low banks on either 

 4 hand were hidden by a dense mass of a tall grass, a species of 

 Saccharum, or w 7 ild sugar-cane. For the first twelve miles or so 

 of its lower course, the river flows through its delta, and hence 

 the banks are low and the country flat. Some few miles above 

 Navusa the banks become steeper, and low hills commence. 

 These gradually become more frequent as the ascent is continued, 

 until steep slopes, with intervening stretches of flat land, are of 

 constant occurrence on either hand. The view up the river now 

 shows a succession of ridges, one behind the other, rising gra- 

 dually in the distance, and terminating in a line of distant blue 

 mountains. 



The steep slopes are covered with a thickly interw T oven vege- 

 tation, the large trees being covered with Epiphytes, Ferns, 

 Lycopods, and climbing Aroids, and festooned with creepers. 

 These creepers in places form a continuous sheet of bright green, 

 falling in gracefully curved steps from the top of the slopes to 

 the bottom, and almost entirely concealing their supports. Here 

 and there tall Tree-ferns rear their heads amongst the tangled 

 mass, and palms (two species of Kentia) form a conspicuous 

 feature amongst the foliage. 



We were forced to anchor in the evening to await the turn 

 of the tide. As it became dusk numbers of Fruit-Bats flew over- 

 head, whilst in the beds of reeds a constant cry was kept up by 

 the coots and water rails. On the tide turning we had to take 

 spells of an hour each at the oars as our time was short, and by 

 paddling on gently all night we reached before daylight a spot 

 about 35 miles from the mouth of the river called " Viti." 



At Viti, a Mr. Storck and his wife live. Mr. Storck is a 



* Dana, " Geology of United States Expl. Exp.," p. 348. 



Y 2 



