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CHAPTER X. 



POPULAR IDEAS RESPECTING THE INTERIOR OF VITI LEVU. MALACHITE 

 AND ANTIMONY. ASCENT OF VOMA PEAK. VISIT TO A HEATHEN 

 TEMPLE. "SPIRIT FOWLS." OFFICIAL MEETING WITH KURUDUADUA 

 AND HIS SUBJECTS. A REBELLION TO BE SUPPRESSED. PRESENTATION 



OF FOOD. " THE OLDEST INHABITANTS." A COURT-FOOL AND HIS 



TRICKS. MR. WATERHOUSE PREACHING. DEPARTURE OF COLONEL 

 SMYTHE, AND MESSRS. PRITCHARD AND WATERHOUSE, FOR NAGROGA. 



To the north of Namosi there is a good deal of unex- 

 plored country, and we tried hard to get some informa- 

 tion about its general features. A popular belief, cur- 

 rent amongst the white settlers in Fiji, affirms that there 

 is a large table-land and an inland lake in Viti Levu. 

 Nothing could be learnt of this table-land, but the na- 

 tives had heard of a lake on which canoes were. Not 

 far from Namosi, still in sight of the town, exists a 

 mountain, which the late Mr. Williams, American Con- 

 sul for Fiji, bought for its rich veins of copper ore. 

 After Mr. Williams's death a number of specimens from 

 this mountain were found in his possession, of which 

 his executor gave me several. They proved to be ma- 

 lachite, closely resembling the Australasian, and next to 

 that of the Ural, considered the best. Nothing has as 

 yet been done to work these mines. The natives also 

 informed us of the existence of ore cf antimony about 



