VANUA-LAVA. 237 



fruit of the shape of the date, with a round soft kernel, 

 very crisp, and with a slight acidity exceedingly agreeable. 

 We saw on our way large banyan trees, several pretty 

 varieties of crotons all new to nie, several sorts of fine 

 bushy trees but of low growth, wild banana trees, an 

 aroid with leaves veined with green, white, and yellow, 

 a bush with wide leaves, and flowers of a line red massed 

 upon a stalk from twelve to eighteen inches long. There 

 was also a beautiful species of palm with a trunk not 

 more than two inches in diameter having fan-shaped 

 leaves bent down at their outer edge, and bunches of fruit 

 of a fine green, about the size of an ordinary cherry. We 

 passed a group of natives going towards the port, carrying 

 cocoa-nut milk in bamboos of more than an inch in dia- 

 meter, about four feet long, and ornamented at irregular 

 intervals with narrow and wide green stripes. Tliey had 

 likewise crabs and eels, which I procured from them in 

 exchange for a few trifles. 



The rain soon began to fall so heavily that we were in a 

 few minutes wet to the skin. The forest with its drip 

 resembled an immense shower bath, and the soil, of a choco- 

 late colour tending to red, was thoroughly soaked. The 

 path, naturally slippery, was threaded over with roots which 

 made it still more so, while huge creepers and pendent 

 branches of trees scarce three feet from the grouird barred 

 the way. Of course our progress was horribly impeded by 

 these obstacles, and nothing could be less pleasant. It was 

 therefore a lucky chance to be able to kill a flyino' fox 



