A LITTLE ' BLOW THE CANDLE-NUT, 187 



for an equal distance, though in much bolder proportions. We 

 could well distinguish the entrance to this noble land-locked 

 harbour, the points of Savu Savu and Kombelau, and between 

 them and beyond, to our right and to our left, lay the plain 

 of liquid azure, broken only where the waves murmured on the 

 coral reef, or far-distant islets studded the horizon. Waitova 

 Falls I had thought surpassingly beautiful, but this scene ex- 

 ceeded my tropical dreams, and I said so. My brother, who 

 had been chatting with one of the native labourers for some 

 time, remarked, without noticing my eulogium, that he should 

 not be at all surprised if we had ' a blow ' to-day, and Chippin- 

 dall, Donald Smith, and poor Black agreed with him. Fami- 

 liarity had bred contempt, and the planters were thinking not 

 of natural beauty, but of copra, sugar, coffee, and tobacco ; so 

 away we went down a steep path to the low-lying lands where 

 the sugar-cane was growing to perfection, and extensive irriga- 

 tion works were in progress, and after a lengthened ramble 

 over the estate, we returned to a planter's breakfast with 

 planters' appetites. 



Later in the day, taking a quiet siesta after lunch, I woke 

 about three p.m. to find that the sky, bay, and all around had 

 changed as if by magic. There was a restless movement of 

 the trees, and a curious lull in natural sounds, mingled with 

 the lurid glow and indescribable oppressiveness that foretells 

 a storm. We were all up in no time. ' It's coming,' said one. 

 ' It's not much of a blow,' said another. ' A passing storm,' 

 predicted a third. The bay was in a moment a sea of ' white 

 horses,' and with fierce fury did they leap over the coral 

 patches near Kombelau Point. Darker grew the sky as the 

 rain came down in a deluge the distant cocoa-nut trees bent 

 their lofty trunks, while their leaves spread wildly out before 

 the strong wind. Far away to the south, which Wai-Wai 



