Across Ovalau Livoni. 



65 



the mats which covered the floor, and excepting a little trouble 

 from mosquitoes, were comfortable enough. Our return journey 

 to Levuka on the following evening was accomplished without 

 any incident worthy of note. 



Some days later, I took part in a walking excursion across the 

 island of Ovalau, accompanied by Mr. Parr, an English gentleman 

 residing in the colony and the owner of a large plantation in the 

 Rewa River district of Viti Levu, and under the guidance of two 

 natives, who carried our small parcels of baggage. Starting from 

 Levuka on the morning of the 3Oth of September, we proceeded 

 up the Totoonga Valley, which stretches inland from the back of 

 the settlement, and after about two hours' hard walking, discovered 

 that our guides had lost their way, and had brought us up to the 

 summit of a thickly-wooded conical hill. Here, however, we were 

 compensated for our disappointment by finding several graves of 

 the Kaicolos, an old hill-inhabiting tribe of Fijians, who fora long 

 time held out against the aggressive policy of Cacobau,and struggled 

 vainly to maintain their independence. 



We had now to descend from this hill to the main valley below, 

 from whence our guides made a fresh departure, by means of 

 which we were enabled, after a stiffish climb up the face of a 

 rather steep hillside, to attain a ridge 1,700 feet high, which 

 separates the watersheds of the east and west sides of the island. 

 After a brief stay here, we descended the other side by a steep 

 and almost obliterated track for about three hours more, when 

 we reached Livoni, the site of an old Kaicolo stronghold. Here, 

 amid the ruins of the town, we found a farmhouse of recent con- 

 struction, the property of a Mr. McCorkill, who had obtained a 

 three years' lease of the land, and was about to try his hand at 

 stock-farming. He had two hundred head of cattle, for which 

 he obtained a ready sale at Levuka, but the difficulties of transit 

 were considerable, and he did not seem hopeful as to the success 

 of his enterprise. He was, moreover, apprehensive that his house, 

 which was built close to the bank of a mountain torrent, was on a 



