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CHAPTER V. 



THE WAI LEVU, OR GEEAT RIVER. CANAL DUG BY NATIVES. MATAISUVA. 



INSTITUTION FOR TRAINING NATIVE TEACHERS. SACRED GROVES, 



TREES, AND STONES. MOSQUITOES. ISLAND OF NAIGANI. MR. EGGER- 



STROM'S KINDNESS. FEUDS AT NADROGA. NUKUBALAWU. TAGURU. 



NAVUA RIVER. 



THE Rewa, Wai Levu, or great river of Viti Levu, has four 

 large mouths, and its deltas are extremely fertile, and 

 cultivated to some extent by the natives. About eighteen 

 miles from its mouth it receives the Wai Maim, which 

 comes from the west, whilst the main branch takes its 

 rise in the Namosi Valley. It was explored in 1856 by 

 Dr. Macdonald, of H.M.S. Herald, Captain Denham, ac- 

 companied by Mr. Samuel Waterhouse, of the Wesleyan 

 Mission, and a full account of their proceedings has been 

 published.* Mataisuva, our next stopping-place, is built 

 on one of the large deltas, a little below the town of 

 Rewa. From Bau it may be reached either by sea or 

 by going up the Wai ni ki, or Kaba mouth. The 

 natives have shortened the latter passage more than 



* " Proceedings of the Expedition for the Exploration of the Rewa river 

 and its Tributaries, in Na Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. By John Denis Mac- 

 donald, Esq., Assistant Surgeon of H.M.S. Herald, Captain N". M. Den- 

 ham," in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxvii., pp. 

 232-268, with a Map by Arrowsmith. 



