70 A MISSION TO VITI. 



ingress and egress to be easy. Port Kinnaird would 

 doubtless become the future capital if its advantages 

 were not totally eclipsed by Suva in Viti Levu. So 

 convinced has every one capable of forming an opinion 

 become that Suva will be the capital, that the land 

 around the harbour has enormously risen of late ; 20 

 an acre was asked in November, 1860; and 10 I saw 

 actually refused for land a few years previously not 

 worth more than a few pence at the utmost. Not a 

 single house had then been built. The general con- 

 viction that Suva must become the capital seems to 

 have been the sole cause of this sudden rise. If one 

 were to write a puff for a land speculator, one would 

 hardly string together a greater number of favour- 

 able conditions. There is a good harbour, with mud 

 bottom, deep water right alongside of the shore, shel- 

 tered by a reef, and having a wide passage for the 

 largest vessels to beat out. When once inside the pas- 

 sage there is clear sea-room, no outlying shoals or 

 reefs. Suva commands the most extensive agricultural 

 district in Fiji, through which run fine rivers (the Navua 

 and Wai Levu or Kewa) navigable for boats for many 

 miles inland. Suva has besides outside reef communi- 

 cation completely around Viti Levu, with the exception 

 of a few miles on the southern shore and the westward, 

 and continuing to the northward to Vanua Levu, and 

 along the entire southern shore of that island. The 

 convenience of inside reef communication is demon- 

 strated in the case of parties employed in sawing. Logs 

 are purchased at a distance of forty miles from the pits, 

 and floated up by natives at a trifling cost. Were there 



