324 A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER." 



German, and was the assistant of Mr. Seemann during his 

 investigation of the plants of Fiji. He was extremely hospitable. 

 He had taken to growing sugar, as cotton had failed, and had a 

 splendid crop, which he calculated to weigh 62 tons of cane to 

 the acre. Mills were about to be erected, and there seemed 

 every prospect of sugar paying well. There were already 

 20 plantations of sugar on the Eewa Eiver. It was curious to 

 see a man from the New Hebrides islands, so notorious for the 

 murders of white men committed in them, acting as nurse to one 

 of Mrs. Storck's children, and hushing the baby tenderly to sleep 

 in his arms. He was one of the imported labourers, concerning 

 whom so much has been written. 



About Viti there are abundance of large Fruit-Pigeons, of the 

 pigeons with purple heads, identical with those of Tongatabu 

 (Ptilinopus porphyraceas) ; also of the "Kula" (Domicella solitaria), 

 and the " Kaka " (Platyccrcus splendens). The Kaka attacks the 

 sugar-canes, and does considerable damage. There are some 

 huge fig-trees at Viti, with the typical plank-like roots and com- 

 pound steins. Here also grow one or two cocoanut-trees, which 

 are rarities so far up the river, for at the inland villages along 

 the river there are no cocoanut-trees, and a regular trade is 

 carried on by the natives in bringing the nuts up the river from 

 the coast, in canoes, to barter them with the inland people. 



The Black Eat and Norway Eat are abundant at Viti, and 

 there is also a native Field Mouse, according to Mr. Storck, but I 

 could not procure one in our short available time. I do not 

 know whether a field-mouse is known from Fiji. A large fresh- 

 water Prawn is common, and is caught for eating by the Fijian 

 women, and in their baskets I saw also an Eel (Murcena). 



A red stratified sandstone, with a slight inclination of its 

 strata, is exposed in section opposite Mr. Storck's house. It is 

 said to contain no fossils. An exactly similar rock is exposed at 

 various spots for several miles down the river. 



On the way down the river, the barge constantly grounded 

 on shoals, our pilot, Joe, knowing nothing of the upper part of 

 the river. We had to strip our clothes off constantly and jump 

 overboard to shove the boat over the shallows, which at last stuck 

 fast and had to remain in that condition till the tide came up 



