15 



Numerous villages on the coasts in all parts of Eijiare 

 built in similar situations. It is not too cleanly kept, 

 and the pigs roam at will through it, — the inhabitants 

 putting up low fences in front of their doors to keep 

 these animals out of their dwelling-houses. With the 

 exception of the village constable and the garden in- 

 spector, or guardian, all the men belonging to the 

 village were at Wai Levu, helping the Buli to make 

 taro patches, and were not to return for a few days. 

 However, the women, to show that their town should 

 not be wanting in the accustomed hospitality to 

 strangers, volunteered, in the absence of the men, to 

 carry my packages to the next town, a distance of 2 

 or 3 miles towards the interior, where I could get 

 men to carry them on to Savu-savu. 



At Vuni Sawani there are about 7 square miles of 

 superior cane land consisting of alluvial flats and low 

 hills, and sufficient space for enlarging the cocoa-nut 

 plantations, which in this locality are not so extensive 

 as they might be. The inhabitants of this village have 

 extensive taro patches, which they cultivate with great 

 skill and care. The soil of the locality, — a brown 

 heavy loam, appears to favour the growth of that plant, 

 and the beds, "patches," of it which I saw were in fine 

 condition, equal if not superior to any that I saw in any 

 other islands of the Pacific ocean. A canal averaging 

 2^ feet in breadth, and 3^ feet in depth, and more 

 than 2 miles long, conveys the water to these patches 

 from a neighbouring stream. I started with a guide 

 early in the morning, and after walking leisurely for 

 about 3 hours, was overtaken by the women and 

 boys with the packages just as I was about to enter 

 the next town. I paid them and gave each a present 

 of tobacco (for all the Fijian women smoke), for which 

 they were thankful. 



