94 A MISSION TO VITT. 



to tell the tale ; now, as only one had come, he should 

 merely be half killed, and might go home to say that 

 they neither cared for the Consul nor for Colonel 

 Smythe, and declined all interference on their part. 



We went again on shore, as Mr. Eggerstrom had in- 

 vited us to breakfast and to inspect his establishment by 

 daylight. Mr. Eggerstrom had expended a great deal of 

 labour on his retreat, cut steps in the solid rocks, and 

 made a large basin for bathing, and seats near the spring 

 from which the water was supplied. He seemed to have 

 been anxious to render his new home as pretty as pos- 

 sible, and paid less regard to the requirements of the 

 crop he wished to grow. He - complained that nothing 

 would flourish, and I told him that unless he sacrificed 

 more trees, his sweet potatoes, yams, and bananas, to 

 say nothing about European vegetables, would be, as 

 hitherto, a prey to snails, caterpillars, and insects, and 

 his house never free from mosquitoes. But he said he 

 loved the shade, and could not make up his mind to 

 do that. 



Although the place was swarming with mosquitoes 

 the previous night, there was now not one to be seen. 

 The sky looked very rainy, and we hesitated whether to 

 stay or push on. We decided on adopting the latter 

 course, but had hardly been afloat more than ten mi- 

 nutes when the rain began to come down in such tor- 

 rents that our boat required constant baling. We 

 took shelter at Nukubalawu, in the house of an Ameri- 

 can, Mr. Work, who, like most of the old white settlers, 

 is better known in Fiji by his nickname, in this instance 

 " Moses." He had a sawing-pit, which he worked with 



