FEJEE ISLANDS. 149 



protected from both sea and wind, that vessels may lie in it at 

 all seasons of the year without the least fear of danger. The 

 hot-springs alluded to are seven in number — two of them issue 

 from a rock, which at high tide is overflowed ; the remaining 

 live are located in a small valley, and within a few yards of 

 the margin of a mountain-stream. The temperature of the 

 two first-mentioned springs was 200°, that of the five, 210°, 

 and that of the stream 75°. The rock in the neighborhood is 

 of a volcanic origin, but there is no smell of sulphur ; the water 

 is very clear, and has a brackish, or saline taste. It is a 

 common practice for the natives residing about the bay to cook 

 their food in those springs, and I was shown one in which 

 I was told human flesh had been cooked only a few days be- 

 fore. The account the natives give of them is, that they have 

 always been in the same state, and that they are the abode of 

 a spirit which it would be dangerous to offend, as it might at 

 any time destroy the inhabitants by causing the hot waters to 

 overflow the island. There is one priest, who pretends to 

 have communication with the spirit, and there was a " Booree" 

 near by the spring in which their interviews took place. 



The natives also informed us that formerly this part of 

 Venua-levu was very populous, but constant dissensions had 

 nearly depopulated it. On the top of a hill about two miles 

 from the beach were the ruins of a very large Fejee 

 fort. 



At daylight on the 5th, we were again under way, and by 5 

 P. M. on the same day, we arrived at Sandal-wood Bay, or 

 Mabua, where we found the " Peacock." Sandal-wood Bay is 

 a large circular basin open to the sea. The neighboring 

 country is not so interesting as that about Savu-Savu Bay, 

 and the sandal-wood tree by which it was once covered, has 

 become almost extinct. 



