40 A MISSION TO vnr. 



I took exact measurements of them. They were from 

 eighty to a hundred feet high, and, four feet above the 

 base ; the largest was eighteen feet in circumference ! 

 The Fijian Kowrie, or Dakua, as the natives term it, 

 does not form entire forests by itself, like some of our 

 pines, but grows intermingled with other trees, in Koro- 

 vono with myrtles and wild nutmegs. These nutmegs 

 are also stately trees, with fine oblong leaves ; and their 

 produce, though it will never be able to enter into com- 

 petition with the cultivated nutmeg of the East Indies, 

 is sufficiently aromatic to be employed for home 

 consumption. One of the men climbed up the highest 

 Kowrie pines by means of a creeper, that hung like a 

 rope from the uppermost branches, and he threw down 

 a good supply of fruit, and also a snake five feet long, 

 which had taken up its abode there. 



On returning to the beach we kindled a fire to make 

 a cup of tea, and the natives brought us plenty of 

 cocoa-nuts and bananas. Our camp was pitched under 

 a couple of magnificent Dilo trees (Calophyllum ino- 

 phyllum^ Linn.) the thick, glossy, green foliage of which 

 was set off to advantage by the numerous white blos- 

 soms with which the tree was crowded. The branches, 

 densely covered with ferns and orchids, were quite over- 

 hanging the water; indeed all the beaches of the 

 Strait of Somosomo are characterized by this pecu- 

 liarity. The vegetation, instead of receding from the 

 sea, as in most parts of the group, is quite bent over 

 the briny fluid. We had intended to stop for the night 

 at Korovono, but at dusk the mosquitoes began to be 

 very troublesome, and, as we had omitted to bring cur- 



