276 A MISSION TO VITI. 
owe their origin to volcanic upheavings and the busy 
operation of corals. There are at present no active vol- 
canos, but several of the highest mountains, for in- 
stance, Buke Levu, in Kadavu, and the summit of Tavi- 
uni, must in times gone by have been formidable craters. 
Hot springs are met with in different parts, earthquakes 
are occasionally experienced, and between Fiji and 
Tonga a whole island has of late years been lifted above 
the level of the ocean, whilst masses of pumice-stone 
are drifted on the southern shores of Kadavu and 
Viti Levu ; all showing that Fiji, though not the focus 
of volcanic action, is not secure against plutonic dis- 
turbances and their effects. The deltas and alluvial de- 
posits of the great rivers excepted, there is little level 
land. Most of the ground is undulated, all the larger 
islands are hilly, and the largest have peaks 4000 feet 
high; Voma, in Viti Levu, and Buke Levu, in Kadavu 
(both of whichwere ascended by me), being the most 
elevated. The soil consists in many parts of a dark-red 
or yellowish clay, or decomposed volcanic rock, which 
soon becomes dry, but being plentifully supplied with 
water, proves very productive. There is hardly a rod of 
land that might not be converted into pasture or be 
cultivated. Almost at every step one discovers that 
most of the land has at one time or other produced 
some crop. Though on the weather side dense and ex- 
tensive woods exist, few of them can be regarded as 
virgin forests, most having re-established themselves 
after the plantations once occupying their site had been 
abandoned. Kadavu does not appear to have an acre of 
virgin forest beyond what is clustered around the very 
