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its banks are eminently suited for the growth of the 

 sugar cane. In the vicinity of Ruku-ruku and of na 

 Koro Vatu there is an area of about 50 square miles 

 of good cane land, consisting of these alluvial flats 

 and low hills. Near these two villages, and also near 

 Kami Husai, beautiful and extensive views of different 

 parts of the country were obtained — mountains, valleys, 

 wood, water, picturesque looking villages, and culti- 

 vated land. Na Koro Vatu is a large well-kept village, 

 situated, as its name implies, on a rock, which over- 

 hangs the Wai ni Mala. In this neighbourhood 

 large nurseries of coffee plants are being formed 

 under the watchful eye of the intelligent district com- 

 missioner. With the young plants it is intended to 

 establish plantations to be cultivated by the natives 

 who live in the mountain districts near the sources 

 of the Wai ni Buka and Wai ni Mala. In the deep 

 pools of the last named river sharks abound, and a 

 short time before my visit a child, who had acci- 

 dentally fallen into one of these pools at na Koro 

 Vatu, was devoured by one of these creatures within 

 sight of its mother, while she was occupied in 

 washing her cooking utensils on the edge of the 

 water. I also heard the case of a man, who about 

 the same time went alone to bathe in one of these 

 deep pools, and was severely bitten by one of these 

 voracious animals — the flesh being torn from one of 

 his thighs. We forded the Wai ni Mala, about a 

 mile below na Koro Vatu, and travelled across the 

 country to na Buke Luke, on the Wai Dina. At that 

 place the Wai ni Mala is about 40 yards broad, 3 feet 

 deep, and the current runs from 2 to 3 miles an hour. 

 It is subject to sudden floods, and sometimes rises 17 

 feet in a single night. The country traversed in this 



