25 



was found to be good throughout, and in the moun- 

 tains the greater part of it was well wooded and 

 suitable for coffee growing. On approaching Natawa 

 bay the path led through some fine cane land about 

 2 square miles in extent. In the mountains which 

 extend from one extremity to the other of Vanua 

 Levu, a distance of 120 miles, there is an area of 

 about 700 square miles of prime land well adapted by 

 climate and soil for growing the coffee tree. 



The following day my journey lay for 15 miles 

 along the shore of Natawa bay to Vatu Kura. It 

 passed through numerous cleanly -kept villages, 

 which were well shaded with groves of cocoa-nut, 

 bread-fruit and other trees. The path — a well-made 

 one — lay along the beach, occasionally on flat ground, 

 but not unfrequently cut into the sides of the hills, 

 where it was supported on the outside by rough walls 

 of stone. Many streams — flowing from the mountains 

 — were crossed, some of them by bridges of single, 

 slippery, crooked, logs, trunks of trees worn smooth, 

 and others of more architectural pretensions, all more 

 or less dangerous to walk upon. Near Vatu Kura we 

 were ferried over a large stream, one at a time, in all 

 that remained of a canoe that had been recently 

 broken. It was simply the half of a canoe, the water 

 being prevented from entering at the broken end by 

 a wall of clay. The character of the country on this 

 side of the bay is similar to that on the south-east 

 side already described. Many young plantations of 

 cocoa-nut trees were noticed, and there is ample 

 vacant space for more. Most of the low hills are 

 covered with grass and " bush," and the soil is very 

 fertile. Basaltic, agglomerate, limestone, and other 

 rocks of aqueous character are very conspicuous. 



