88 Letter II. 
of natives—neatly-dressed women, and healthy happy-looking 
men, who favoured us with a most demonstrative wel- 
come. 
This station, although it occupies a low and unhealthy situa- 
tion, has a very pleasing and romantic appearance. The palms 
and the bananas, the white shining houses with their brown 
thatched roofs, the fanciful reed fences, the orange trees loaded 
with green and yellow fruit, the large mimosas hanging over 
the sea, and the dusky forms of the natives—all combine to 
make a scene of peacefulness and soft contrast, upon which the 
eye rests with much enjoyment. 
During the few hours spent here we were kindly entertained 
by Mr. and Mrs. Inglis, and were shown over the grounds and 
premises. The magnificent orange trees in front of the house 
were amongst the most noticeable objects. They are more 
than twenty years old, are I should think about twenty feet 
high, and each bears several thousand oranges per annum. I 
saw here also the largest shell I had ever met with; it was an 
immense bivalve, each side of which was almost large enough 
for a bath, being about three feet in diameter. The shell, 
minus the fish, was found up in the bed of a stream which 
flows past the mission station. They are found alive, I believe, 
on the east coast of Australia, and are immensely powerful, 
being able to snap in two a good stout cable, by closing sud-_ 
‘denly upon it. I cannot vouch for the truth of this statement, 
and I confess to a slight scepticism regarding this creature’s 
vaunted powers. 
Towards evening the flag of recall was hoisted, and we re- 
turned to the vessel, which by dark was well off from Aneityum, 
on her way towards the island of Fotuna. 
The distance between Aneityum and Fotuna is about forty 
miles, and, as we had a steady breeze with us, before daylight 
we were close to the shore of the latter. I had a fine view of 
