FIJI. 469 



from Yanua-Levu by the narrow picturesque Somo-Somo Strait. Of the other 

 members of the group not one has an area of 60 square miles, all being for the most 

 part mere fragments of atolls or low hills fringed with coral reefs. The main chain 

 of these islets, sweeping round the east side of the archipelago from north to south, 

 is designated by the general name of Lau ; it resembles the rim of a submerged 

 cone open towards the sea on its right side, and enclosing a few reef-fringed 

 islets. Altogether Fiji comprises 225 islands, of which about a hundred are 

 inhabited. 



Climate. — Flora. — Fauna. 



The windward and leeward sides of all the islands present remarkable contrasts 

 due to the moist south-east tradewinds, which prevail throughout the year and 

 support a luxuriant vegetation on the south and east slopes, while the drier oppo- 

 site sides are mostly under grass, with here and there a few odoriferous pandanus 

 trees. Here the settlers find the more favourable tracts, already prepared by nature 

 for tillage and stock-breeding. 



The mean temperature is somewhat lower than that of the continental lands 

 lying under the same latitude; but although the extreme heats are tempered by sea 

 breezes, the whites still complain of the fiery solar rays on the plantations of the 

 interior. There are two seasons, one relatively cool, from May to October, the other 

 warmer and more humid, for the rest of the year. This is essentially the " wet 

 season," when the moisture especially in March is precipitated in tremendous 

 downpours, and at times accompanied by fierce gales and hurricanes. In 1871 

 Mbua received in a single day 15 inches of rain, as much as South Australia in a 

 whole year. 



A tropical vegetation prevails in Fiji, where the outer fringe of cocoanut palms 

 and, in the few swampy districts, mangrove thickets, are succeeded higher up by 

 tree-ferns, various species of palms and other equatorial plants partly covered with 

 parasitic orchids. In some places the flora is essentially Australian, with casuarinas, 

 acacias, and other forms, such as those occurring along the shores of the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria. Towards the altitude of 2,000 feet the seaboard vegetation is replaced 

 by other plants, amongst which no Alpine forms have yet been found. The botanist 

 Home, who has himself discovered over 300 new species, assigns 1,086 flowering 

 plants and 245 ferns and allied forms to the Fiji flora. 



Like the other Pacific islands the archipelago is extremely poor in higher animal 

 life, the only mammals being a rat, some bats and the cetaceans of the surroundin» 

 waters. But all European domestic animals have been introduced and thrive well, 

 both the pig and cat having already reverted to the wild state. Berthold Seeman 

 has reckoned 46 species of birds, and reptiles, snakes and lizards are still more 

 numerous ; a few varieties of the frog in the eastern parts are the last representa- 

 tives of the batrachian family in the Oceanic world. The neighbouring seas are 

 inhabited by about 125 species of fishes, several of which are venomous and their 

 flesh poisonous. Sharks also are numerous, and some of these formidable animals 

 are confined exclusively to the estuaries. 



