CHAPTER IV. 



R E W A. 

 184 0. 



When the Peacock left the harbour of Levuka for Rewa, it was 

 for the purpose of visiting that town and inducing the King of Rewa 

 to sign the Feejee regulations, and also to carry on the surveys in 

 that quarter. (The instructions will be found in Appendix VI.) 

 The Peacock left Levuka on the 15th May, and reached Rewa at 

 noon the next day. The harbour of Rewa is formed by two small 

 islands, called Nukalou and Mukalou, with their attached coral reefs, 

 and has three passages into it. The two southern ones are safe, 

 though narrow, but the northern one is much obstructed with coral 

 lumps. The port is a secure one, and the anchorage, which is off 

 the island of Nukalou, is about three miles from the mouth of Wai- 

 levu, or Peale's river, and six from the town of Rewa, which is 

 situated on a low piece of land, which the river, passing on each side 

 of it, has formed into an island. The east point of Vitilevu is low, 

 and is divided by several small and unimportant streams, which we 

 had not time to examine ; there is, also, at high water, a passage for 

 canoes through one of them to Ambau, which lies ten miles to the 

 northward. 



The launch and first cutter of the Peacock, under Lieutenant 

 Emmons and Passed Midshipman Blunt, were found here, having 

 advanced thus far in their surveying operations. They had passed 

 around the Bay of Ambau, and met with rather an unfriendly recep- 

 tion there ; the chiefs refused to give them any water unless paid for, 

 on account, as they said, of our trade-master not paying a higher price 

 for the yams they carried him. For this reason the chiefs were in a 

 bad humour, and had refused a supply of water to the boats. 



