A SAMPLE OF POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 183 



nuts. During my visit Mr. Chippindall was irrigating the 

 lowlands for the better growth of the sugar-cane, while the 

 uplands were being planted with coffee-trees. 



A man's library is an index to his mind. Wai- Wai could 

 not boast of a big library, but the books scattered about were 

 characteristic. There were copies of the Sugar-Cane, a magazine 

 devoted to the interests of sugar-planters, and numerous works 

 on tropical agriculture. An odd number of the Field showed 

 that interest in manly sports which an Englishman never 

 abandons. A few books of travel and reference, with a 

 sprinkling of novels (Walter Scott, Thackeray, and Dickens 

 were especially prominent), and a well-worn Church of 

 England Prayer Book completed the list. The furniture was 

 Spartan in its simplicity, but I have found it possible to 

 be exceedingly comfortable without any more aesthetic sur- 

 roundings than tables and chairs. The house was built of 

 Savu Savu Bay wood, by a Savu Savu settler, Mr. Dods, of 

 Valaga, and is a substantial affair, the roof being thatched 

 with dried cocoa-nut leaves, and perfectly water-tight. 



A line of hearty recognition is due to the kindness received 

 at Wai- Wai, and the gloriously free and easy Christmas-time 

 spent there. One of the jovial party there assembled, Mr. 

 Black, our host's manager and overseer, has since been drowned 

 in endeavouring to reach the bay from Levuka in an open 

 boat, so there is a tinge of melancholy over my recollections of 

 Wai- Wai. What chiefly impressed me in the Fijian planters 

 with whom I became acquainted was their goodness of heart 

 and intense genuineness. Hospitality is hardly the word to 

 describe their kindness. It seemed more like the traditional 

 habits of the Scottish and Irish peasantry, by whom a man is 

 welcomed because he is a man. The settlers' knowledge of 

 men and things is very comprehensive; as a rule, they 



