148 A MISSION TO VITI. 



and indefatigable in offering explanation. I thought I 

 could not do better than take advantage of their local 

 knowledge and dot down all I heard, saw, and had 

 pointed out. " Look to the right," cried one, " there is 

 Tamana, with a large temple at the top." " Look to 

 the left," interpolated another, " if you wish to see Solu, 

 a small town, just disappearing betwen those banana 

 plantations. You have already lost it. Those bamboos, 

 high reeds, and tall treeferns, have shut it out. Do you 

 see the wild plantain 1 There ! there it is ! You can 

 always know it from others by its having erect orange- 

 coloured branches instead of nodding ones, like the cul- 

 tivated species. One more sago-palm in that swamp, 

 probably the last, as we ascend the river ; it does not 

 like rocks, and here, you see, they begin. This is the 

 first rapid : no danger, all the canoes pass over safely. 

 Three hawks chasing a pigeon ! Now for bold scenery ! 

 The rocks are at least two hundred and fifty feet high, 

 full of fine timber at the top. And those splendid 

 waterfalls ! Here we are at Kuburinasaumuri ; cliffs on 

 both sides, and the river full of fresh-water sharks, of 

 which the chief killed a very large one for biting his 

 brother. This is Na Savu drau the hundred waterfalls. 

 In the rainy season that number is quite correct ; even 

 now, if you count all those little streaks of silver pour- 

 ing over the cliffs, you will find it not far short. On 

 the right is the Wai-ni-kavika (the river of the Malay 

 apples), where a mighty spirit dwells." 



And thus they went on talking and pointing out all 

 they considered interesting or worth looking at. We 

 had gradually exchanged the low, flat land of the coast 



