i 7 8 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



house facing the sea was all he could offer me, but a very 

 happy home it was. 



Vu-ni-wai-Levu did not boast of the luxury of the Palace 

 Hotel, San Francisco, or of the comforts of the Junior Carlton ; 

 but the hospitable partners (for I cannot forget Dick Heyward) 

 did their best, and for a reasonable man is not that enough ? 

 Copra-making is the firm's chief business. The want of capital 

 has prevented Messrs. Heyward and Cooper from doing much 

 more than make a hard-earned living out of their land, still 

 they hope on, hope ever, and for the humblest pioneer the tide 

 will turn at last. Here, taking it altogether, I fared sumptu- 

 ously every day. Of fowl hot and fowl cold and fowl curried, 

 we had plenty, and good they were ; while goat's flesh is not a 

 contemptible substitute for Welsh mutton. Fish we did not 

 have, except in the shape of the universal sardine ; pork was 

 in abundance, and tomatoes were to be had for the trouble of 

 going into the bush. The Fijian pork and poultry ought to 

 have a refined flavour, for though pigs are not at present, as 

 Sydney Smith advised, fed on geranium-blossoms to improve 

 the colour of the future ham, all animals in Fiji eat the meat 

 of the cocoa-nut, and fowls are especially greedy over the 

 grated variety. 



It is needless to dwell further on Vu-ni-wai Levu. To say 

 that the scenery all around is exquisite, is to say it is in Fiji 

 to describe the loveliness of the banks of the Drek, the river 

 which runs into the sea close to the estate, would require a 

 volume of word-painting, and then be hardly understood. 



Miss Gordon Gumming, the gifted sister of the famous lion- 

 hunter, has made some very good sketches of the beautiful 

 scenery of Savu Savu Bay, which will give the public some 

 idea of its charm. 



From Vu-ni-wai-Levu to the nearest white man's estate, that 



