17(; TUB GBUISE OF TEE ' CUBAQOA. 



CHAPTER IX. 



KANDAVff—FIJI GiJOjrP— continued. 



(AtrausT 3.) 



Leviika Bay and Village—Peculiar Form of the Island — Mountain CiifF of 

 Buke-Levu — Village of Yawe— Visit of H.M.S. ' Esk ' — Letter of Canoe-men 

 to her Commander — Notes on the Fiji Group — Chiefs — Languages — Their 

 Mythology — Deification promised to a Missionary — ' I am a God ' — Character 

 of their Gods and its Results^Impediments to Civilisation — Climate and 

 Soil — European Population^Native Notions respecting Property and Land 

 ■ — Difficulties thrown in the way of its Acquisition — Improved Prospects for 

 Settlers — Exports — Commerce — Future Eesources. 



Steamed out of Mbau ou August 2 at eleven a.m. ; and 

 directing our course towards the island of Kandavu, at 

 half-past nine P.M. on the following day we dropt anchor in 

 Levuka Bay. This is an open bay ou the northern coast of 

 the island, and has its southern point bounded by a moun- 

 tain 3,800 feet high, being a precipitous cliff ou its seaward 

 side. Pleasantly situated on the bay is the village from 

 which it takes its name, one of the neatest we have met 

 with ; and it is here that the Protestant mission is located, 

 the resident missionaries being Messrs. White and Nettle- 

 ton. Stretching from east to west the island is said to 

 be about twenty-foiu' miles long, and, at mid distance, 

 narrows so much as to form an isthmus, over which canoes 



