146 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC CHAP. 



ridge-mountains as I proceed with the systematic description of 

 the island, it will be here convenient to follow up the preceding 

 remarks on the Va-lili Range by a preliminary reference to the 

 great ridge district lying east of it. 



When a panoramic view of this region is obtained, one observes 

 a series of lofty ridges more or less parallel and running about 

 N.W. and S.E. There are the Va-lili, Narengali, and Sealevu ridge- 

 mountains with lesser ridges between. The intervening valleys 

 are elevated about 400 feet above the sea, whilst the mountains 

 rise up to over 2,000 feet. In many localities this configuration of 

 the surface would be attributed mainly to subaerial denudation. 

 In this island I will endeavour to show that these mountain-ridges 

 existed before the emergence. They do not owe their form to 

 the rivers that flow through the valleys, though no doubt river- 

 erosion has brought these features into greater relief. 



In Vanua Levu, as there will be frequent occasion of showing, 

 rivers often flow in valleys that they have not made. This is 

 especially pointed out on page 151 ; and it is necessary to empha- 

 sise it here, before proceeding farther with the description of the 

 geological structure of the mountain-ridges. 



THE WAISALI SADDLE 



This saddle, which connects the Va-lili and the Koro-tini 

 ranges, has probably a minimum elevation of not over 1,200 or 

 1,300 feet. To understand this district thoroughly a regular survey 

 is, however, necessary. It is only at times in this densely wooded 

 range that a view of the surrounding country is obtained ; but in 

 spite of this drawback I was able by a diligent use of watch, 

 aneroid, and prismatic compass, to obtain a fair general notion of 

 the surface-configuration. 



The track that proceeds westward from Waisali to Narengali 

 leads also to the villages of Na Sinu and Sealevu. About i or 2 

 miles from Waisali, the track branches off to the westward for 

 Narengali and to the northward for Na Sinu and Sealevu. After 

 half an hour's walk along this last-named path, one comes to a 

 place where at an elevation of about 900 feet it branches off to the 

 left for Na Sinu, crossing the lowest part of the saddle, and to the 

 right for Sealevu across the Koro-tini Range. It may here be 

 remarked that since the natives are gradually abandoning their 

 mountain-villages and are settling at the coast, many of the 

 mountain-tracks used by me will before long be overgrown and 

 forgotten. 



