276 A MISSION TO VITI. 



owe their origin to volcanic upheavings and the busy 

 operation of corals. There are at present no active vol- 

 canos, but several of the highest mountains, for in- 

 stance, Buke Levu, in Kadavu, and the summit of Tavi- 

 uni, must in times gone by have been formidable craters. 

 Hot springs are met with in different parts, earthquakes 

 are occasionally experienced, and between Fiji and 

 Tonga a whole island has of late years been lifted above 

 the level of the ocean, whilst masses of pumice-stone 

 are drifted on the southern shores of Kadavu and 

 Viti Levu ; all showing that Fiji, though not the focus 

 of volcanic action, is not secure against plutonic dis- 

 turbances and their effects. The deltas and alluvial de- 

 posits of the great rivers excepted, there is little level 

 land. Most of the ground is undulated, all the larger 

 islands are hilly, and the largest have peaks 4000 feet 

 high ; Voma, in Viti Levu, and Buke Levu, in Kadavu 

 (both of whichwere ascended by me), being the most 

 elevated. The soil consists in many parts of a dark-red 

 or yellowish clay, or decomposed volcanic rock, which 

 soon becomes dry, but being plentifully supplied with 

 water, proves very productive. There is hardly a rod of 

 land that might not be converted into pasture or be 

 cultivated. Almost at every step one discovers that 

 most of the land has at one time or other produced 

 some crop. Though on the weather side dense and ex- 

 tensive woods exist, few of them can be regarded as 

 virgin forests, most having re-established themselves 

 after the plantations once occupying their site had been 

 abandoned. Kadavu does not appear to have an acre of 

 virgin forest beyond what is clustered around the very 



