1 86 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



severity, accompanied with vivid lightning, are not uncommon 

 in January and the early part of February. I witnessed several 

 of these, but very little damage was done ; and I believe there 

 are few cases on record of human life having been destroyed by 

 lightning. It may be that the cocoa-nut trees act as conductors, 

 but I gained very scanty information on this head. 



To return to Wai-Wai. We got up about five a.m., accord- 

 ing to the custom of planters in every quarter of the globe, 

 and having had a good dip under the glorious waterfall at the 

 bathing-hole already referred to, complied with other Fijian 

 customs by having a quiet ' nip,' and lighting our ante-breakfast 

 pipes. 



F. C. Burnand, in one of his books, describing his voyage to 

 Antwerp on board the Baron Osy, says he felt inclined to swear 

 purposelessly, and dance a hornpipe ; why, he could not tell, 

 except that he felt himself a ' jovial tar ' on the ocean wave. 

 It is just the same thing on Polynesian plantations. The 

 genius of the place seems to impregnate your being, and you 

 get up at inconceivable hours, indulge in little nips, and smoke 

 pipes before breakfast, as if these customs had been the ritual 

 of your life. We strolled out on the plateau ; the cocoa-nut 

 trees on the beach were sighing sad music to the accompani- 

 ment of a light morning breeze ; the sunbeams were just glis- 

 tening on the coral reef miles away to our right front, and 

 playing amidst the luxuriant and many-tinted vegetation 

 around. In addition to sylvan music, sunlit coral reefs, and 

 tropical verdure, we revelled in a panorama of beauty. To our 

 left the bay spread out for 15 miles, broken here and there by 

 jutting headlands, which in themselves were botanical gardens, 

 while the southern shore, terminating slightly to our left front, 

 was visible for miles, with the exquisite little island of Nawi 

 nestling in its farthest corner. To our right the bay extended 



