26 A MISSION TO VITI. 
me. Eleanor, notwithstanding her high rank, did not 
seem to exempt herself from any of the duties devolving 
upon Fijian women. I often saw her go fishing on the 
reef, and being up to her waist in water. One night, 
when all was silent, and we were sitting in the house 
reading and writing, we heard her call loudly for help, 
and on rushing down to the beach, we found that she 
and two other women had caught a large turtle in their 
net, and were holding on to the splashing animal with 
all their might, until assistance could be obtained. 
On the 30th of May, we ascended for the first time 
the summit of Somosomo; Captain Wilson, Mr. Coxon, 
and several men kindly sent from the mission at Wairiki, 
accompanied us, carrying baskets, for making collec- 
tions. The Queen of Somosomo, hearing of our inten- 
tion, joined the expedition with her whole court. At 
daybreak we found her train waiting for us, on the 
banks of a river, all fully equipped for the occasion. 
A few strokes of the pen will describe their dress. The 
Queen wore two yards of white calico around her loins, 
fern-leaves around her head, the purple blossom of the 
Chinese rose in a hole pierced through one of her ears, 
and a bracelet made of a shell. No other garment 
graced her stately person, and yet she looked truly ma- 
jestic. Her attendants dispensed with the calico alto- 
gether, and were simply attired in portions of banana 
and cocoa-nut leaves fresh from the bush, which was so 
far convenient to them as they were ordered to push 
ahead, make a road, and shake the dew and rain from 
the branches obstructing the way. In our European 
clothes, we stood no chance in keeping up with them. 
