Chap, xiii.] UP THE WAI LEVU RIVER. 279 



water poured in Rewa 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 

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

 of Sacchariim, or wild 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 gradually in the distance, 

 and terminating in a line of distant blue mountains. 



The steep slopes are covered with a thickly interwoven 

 vegetation, 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 

 overhead, 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 

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

 investigation of the plants of Fiji. He was extremely hospit- 

 able. 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 Rewa River. 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 



