v NA SAVU TABLE-LAND 79 



THE TABLE-LAND OF NA SAVU. This remarkable plateau 

 has an elevation varying usually between 700 and 800 feet above 

 the sea and a maximum breadth of four or five miles. It is an area 

 of basic agglomerates and basic tuffs and lies in the hollow between 

 the basaltic mountain of Seatura and the acid andesitic hilly region 

 of Ndrandramea. For the convenience of description I have named 

 it after the picturesque falls of Na Savu l at its southern edge. 

 These falls are celebrated in Fijian tradition ; and from the brink 

 in old time the native desirous of ending his life leapt into the 

 gorge below. 



After flowing sluggishly along on the surface of the table-land, 

 the Mbutu-mbutu River arrives suddenly at the edge of a line of 

 cliffs of volcanic agglomerate, that here form the southern border 

 of the plateau, and with a volume 30 to 40 feet across, it plunges 

 down into the ravine 150 feet below. As shown in the view from 

 the gorge below, there is a break in the middle of the descent. 

 These falls, however, are not easily accessible. They are best 

 approached by proceeding from Wainunu to Ndawathumi and 

 thence up the gorge of the Mbutu-mbutu River. 



The surface of the plateau of Na Savu is densely wooded. In 

 places it is marshy, and here thrives the Giant Sedge (Scirpoden- 

 dron costatum). The Makita tree (Parinarium laurinum) also 

 flourishes in the wet districts ; and in the drier localities occur the 

 Ndakua (Dammara vitiensis) and the Ndamanu (Calophyllum- 

 burmanni) together with a palm of the genus Veitchia. Here on 

 this level watershed between the basins of the Wainunu and 

 Sarawanga rivers, the sluggish streams flow aimlessly along in but 

 slightly eroded channels ; and it is not always possible to determine 

 the side of the island to which they ultimately direct their course. 

 In their beds are pebbles and irregularly formed concretions of an 

 impure reddish flint which I have described on page 354. On the 

 north and south sides the table-land is much excavated by the 

 tributaries of the Sarawanga and Wainunu rivers. On the west 

 where it meets the foot of the Seatura slope portions of columns of 

 basaltic rocks appear on the surface, and deep gorges are worn by 

 the large streams descending from the mountain. On the east 

 towards Nuku-ni-tambua and Tambu-lotu, the surface is also much 

 cut up. The preservation of this table-land in a region, where the 

 denuding agencies are very active in their operations all around it, 

 is to be attributed to its being a level watershed, where the head- 



1 "Na Savu" is the Fijian for waterfall. The complete name of this fall is 

 " Na Savu ni nuku." 



