PREFACE 



During a sojourn in the Pacific, which covered a period of 

 rather over a year in Hawaii (1896-97), and of two years and three 

 months in Fiji (1897-99), my attention was mainly confined to the 

 study of plant-distribution and to the examination of the geological 

 structure of Vanua Levu. 



With Hillebrand's " Flora of Hawaii " always in my hands 

 I roamed over the large island of Hawaii, ascending the three 

 principal mountains of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai, 

 and in the case of my second ascent of Mauna Loa spending 

 twenty-three days alone on its summit. Similarly in Fiji, 

 Seemann's " Flora Vitiensis " was my counsellor and guide in the 

 matter of plants. 



In Hawaii I was in a land of active sub-aerial volcanoes, and I 

 paid my devotions at all the altars of " Pele," their presiding deity. 

 In Fiji I trod upon the surface of submarine volcanoes that 

 emerged ages since from the ocean and still retain their coverings 

 of sea-deposits. Both in Hawaii and Fiji I lived much among the 

 people ; and though my chief interest lay in the comparison of 

 these two types of volcanic islands, I could not but be drawn to 

 the kindly natives whose hospitality I so long enjoyed. 



Destiny led me to Vanua Levu in the following fashion. With 

 the relief party to take me down from Mauna Loa there arrived a 

 well-known German naturalist who, like myself, had been interested 

 in coral-reef investigations. We discussed this warm topic at an 

 elevation of nearly 14,000 feet above the sea, with the thermometer 

 at 20° F. As we sipped our hot coffee and listened to the 



