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A BOTANICAL TOUR AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 125 
injury until they reach the earth, in which they quiekly "d themselves, and 
act as stays to prevent the stem being blown about by the wind. I was fre- 
quently startled during my walks, which were often long ud: por ors though 
always interesting, by the rattling of the huge pods of Mucuna gigantea, or 
‘Big Bean," which are often two feet in length, and as broad as one's hand. 
Occasionally on the Znocarpus edulis, “South Sea Chestnut," whose singular 
m I have described, and also growing on the branches of Artocarpus incisa, 
I have met with two species of Loranthus and a Viseum. These parasites are 
very interesting and ornamenta 
was struck with the beautiful and picturesque scenery at Burreta. From 
the consul’s house (Mr. Thurston's), which is situated upon a hill from which 
a charming view may be had of the port of Ovalau, looking northwards, that 
wilderness of beauty in the valley of Livone,—a garden, in fact, with its 
and Banana studded about here and there, through the other rich and varied 
vegetation, —would alone present a truly magnificent picture. Turning round, 
the eye looks upon the long, low, and narrow but pretty island of Mot wu 
with its islets, distant a couple of miles, the big Fiji, “ Viti-levu," being in 
n 
white sandy beach and coral reefs, or by belts more or less broken of the 
never-to-be-forgotten Cocos nucifera 
Mr. Thurston’s cotton re aetan are among the best I have seen, great 
care having been taken to — the var em sorts of Cotton apart, a precaution 
which must be observed if one good varieties. It often happens 
that when the sorts are planted in too close proximity the pollen is transmitted 
settlers say that the hybrid is inferior to either. I cannot help thinking, how- 
ever, that a very good sort of Cotton might be obtained between the Egyptian 
and the Sea-island. The silky substance of the one and the long staple of the 
Burreta, I proceeded in the consul's boat up the Rewa river, the mouth of 
which is distant about forty miles. I was pleased to have so good an oppor- 
tunity of seeing this part of Fiji, and I was not unsuccessful in my botanical 
explorations. 
Twenty miles or more from the mouth the river is often more than a quar- 
ter of a mile in width, and along its banks are some extensive cotton and coffee 
plantations; among the more important of which are those of the Messrs. 
Storck. Sugar, too, in — cultivated patches, occurs in places. 
For miles inland, along the river, the country is generally of an undulating 
nature, and the soil oaiiy productive. It consists in many places of a 
mixture of pulverized volcanic rock and vegetable deposit, which, saturated 
