Harbour of Ndronga. Island of Malaki. 

 Survey of Sandalwood Bay. 



Dimba-dimba Point. Town of Muthuata. .. 

 Peacock leaves Muthuata. 241 



entered the reef that surrounds Mbeuga through 

 a shallow passage, and anchored off a deep har- 

 bour, where they remained for the night. 



Mbenga, like all the large islands of this group, 

 is basaltic. Its shape is an oval, five miles long 

 by three wide. 



The boats now visited Bird Island, lying in the 

 passage between Mbenga Reef and Vitilevu. The 

 reef off this part of Vitilevu nearly joins that of 

 Mbenga. Two miles beyond this, Lieutenant Em- 

 mons entered a well-sheltered harbour, where the 

 boats stayed over-night. About three miles to the 

 westward of it, they found another similarly situ- 

 ated; after which they continued to proceed down 

 the coast, along the reef, without meeting any 

 harbour until after dai-k, when they succeeded in 

 getting into the exposed one of Ndronga. 



The harbour (if so it may be called) of 

 Ndi'onga, affords no protection against the south- 

 west winds, and is only suitable for small ves- 

 sels. The anchorage is in five fathoms water. 

 The reef from this point westward iucreases in 

 distance from the shore from one to two miles. 



Five miles beyond this harbour they came to 

 the Malolo Island Passage, where the great sea- 

 reef from the westward joins, having two en- 

 trances, the largest of which I have named the 

 Malolo Passage. That to the eastward, which I 

 called the Navula Passage, they passed through 

 and anchored at night under the town of 

 Navula. 



On the 26th, Lieutenant Emmons gained Ba, 

 the point where his work was to terminate, and be 

 joined by that of the other parties. On the 28th 

 they went alongside of the Peacock, after having 

 been in the boats seventeen days. 



The Peacock now took the launch and cutter in 

 tow, and began beating up for the purpose of reach- 

 ing the Malaki Islands, in order to take a departure 

 from Amboa Bay. 



On the 2nd of June, they reached and landed on 

 the island of Malaki, which is a high islet, divided 

 from the large island by a narrow strait, near which 

 is the town of Rake-rake, which is also subject to 

 Ambau. 



Malaki has the appearance of having once been 

 well cultivated. This island is eight hundred feet 

 high, and on the top are the remains of a fortifica- 

 tion of stone, whose walls are four feet high, sur- 

 rounded by a moat several feet deep, and ten feet 

 wide. 



On the 8th June, Captain Hudson set about the 

 survey of Sandalwood Bay. He then, with the 

 naturalists and many of the officers, visited the 

 shore. There are three rivers that flow into the 

 bay; the middle one of these they entered. It has 

 two entrances for boats. It is bordered on each 

 side by extensive mud-flats, which are bare at low 

 water for a considerable distance. Parts of these 

 flats are covered by thick mangrove-bushes, among 

 which many women and children were seen catch- 

 ing a large kind of crab, whilst flocks of paroquets 

 were flying around them. This river is about two 

 hundred feet wide, and very tortuous. 



The town, named Vaturua, is situated about a 

 mile up the river. The entrance to it is through a 

 hollow way, to pass through which it was almost 

 necessary to creep. 



About one-fourth of a mile from Vaturua is an- 

 other town, called Matainole, which also belongs to 



Tui Mora, and is in all respects similar to the 

 other. 



In the afternoon of the 10th, Captain Hudson 

 got under way, although nearly all the officers and 

 men were still at work on the survey, and anchored 

 the ship off the northern point of Mbua Bay. This 

 point is called Dimba-dimba, and is considered by 

 the natives as sacred ground; it is kept strictly 

 from any kind of disturbance, for it is supposed to 

 be inhabited by the spirits of the departed, and to 

 be the place where they embark for the regions of 

 Ndengei. It is a most beautiful spot, and in strong 

 contrast with the surrounding country, which is in 

 many places devoid of trees, while here they flourish 

 as nature has planted them. 



On the 12th, Captain Eagleston of the Leonidas 

 came on board, and piloted them to Naloa Bay. 



On the 17th of June, the Peacock left the bay of 

 Naloa, in company with the Leonidas; and on the 

 afternoon of the 19th, anchored off the town of 

 Muthuata. 



The town of Muthuata consists of about one 

 hundred houses, built closely together, and is 

 situated in an open valley close to high-water 

 mark. It is very much exposed and quite de- 

 fenceless; has but few trees about it, but is one of 

 the best-built towns in the Feejees. The style of 

 building resembles that of Rewa. The king's name 

 is Ndrandranda; his title, Tui Muthuata. He is 

 old and quite infirm, the result of an attack of 

 elephantiasis in one of his legs, which renders it 

 difficult for him to walk. 



Tui Muthuata has from eighty to one hundred 

 towns under his control ; and his territory ex- 

 tends from Unda Point to the island of Tavea, in 

 Naloa Bay. Many of these towns are of small 

 extent, and contain but few inhabitants ; and I 

 found that to estimate the population by the report 

 of the chiefs themselves, would give erroneous 

 results. Feejee men lie with great plausibility, 

 and particularly if it is to swell their own import- 

 ance. 



On the 28th, Passed-Midshipman Harrison 

 arrived in the schooner Kai-viti, with the supply 

 of yams, and my orders to the Peacock to join me 

 at Mbua Bay on the 4th of July. 



On the 5th, the Peacock anchored in Mbua Bay, 

 about an hour before the Vinceunes reached it, all 

 well and in good spirits. 



Upon the junction of the Peacock with the Vin- 

 cennes in Mbua Bay, I had it in my power to 

 examine and collate all the work that we had thus 

 far accomplished. After doing this, I found that 

 so much yet remained to be done before a thorough 

 survey of the Feejee Group could be completed, 

 that I must either leave this important duty un- 

 finished, or devote more time to it than had origi- 

 nally been contemplated. I deemed this to be 

 among the most important of the objects of the 

 expedition; and considering that the seas around 

 these islands abound in dangers whose position had 

 up to this time been entirely unknown, I resolved 

 not only to complete the surveys, but not to leave 

 the group until I had entirely satisfied myself of 

 the accuracy of the work. 



In furtherance of the last object, I set all who 

 had been employed in the service to work in plot- 

 ting and calculating their surveys, while the fea- 

 tures of the region were yet fresh in their memo- 

 ries. 



R 



