78 A MISSION TO VITI. 



be added, the sum swells to the respectable amount of 

 80,000. 



Bau is built on a small island on the east side of Viti 

 Levu, with which it is connected by a long flat of coral, 

 fordable at high water, and in places bare at low. The 

 annexed sketch, taken in 1860, by Mrs. Smythe, and 

 kindly placed at my disposal, will give a better idea 

 of the place than any description. The island is at the 

 back about a hundred feet high, and around the beach 

 thickly covered with native houses, arranged in crooked 

 streets. The top of the island, where the British flag is 

 waving, was a mere receptacle for rubbish, until the in- 

 dustry of the missionaiies converted it into smiling gar- 

 dens and eligible sites for dwelling-houses. At my first 

 visit the natives were just finishing their new JBure ni sa, 

 a building, one or several of which are found in every 

 town, and which may be described as a compromise be- 

 tween our club-houses and town-halls. It was 125 feet 

 long, but not quite so high as the adjoining church, 

 which is 100 feet high, and seems a tremendous edifice 

 for natives to erect without nails, and the use of such 

 tools as are employed by us. 



The King's residence is close to the beach, and a 

 large native-built house, to which several out-houses 

 are attached : one of which is inhabited by Peter, a Ton- 

 guese, who fills the office of prime minister, and seems 

 much attached to the King. In front of the house is a 

 fine lawn of couch-grass, and groups of iron-wood, and 

 other native shrubs and trees, the whole, I believe, a 

 creation of Mrs. Collis, the wife of the resident training 

 master at Bau, who will ever live in my memory, for 



