19.1 LAKEMBA AND SAVU-SAVU. 



a protection against the north winds ; and vessels of any draught of 

 water may anchor here in fifteen fathoms, with good bottom, from a 

 quarter to half a mile from the shore. Somewhat farther to the 

 southward is a three-fathom bank, which is the only danger that 

 exists inside the reef towards the Cobu Rock or southwest passage. 

 About a mile to the north is Venemole Bay. It is circular, with a 

 narrow entrance, affording, seemingly, a good harbour ; but, on exa- 

 mination, this entrance proved to be quite shallow. The bay had the 

 appearance of having been an old crater ; at low water, it may almost 

 be said to become a lake. The officers were much struck with the 

 beauty of the bay. It contains a village of the same name, and also 

 another, called Tulailai; but both are small. The natives were 

 quite peaceable. 



They anchored at night off the town of Toaloa, which lies in a 

 bight at the north end of the island, and proved the largest town on 

 the island. Here David Whippy, acting as the " Maticum Ambau," 

 obtained for them all kinds of provisions, and, by his exertions all 

 night in superintending the cooking, they were prevented from being 

 delayed the next day. Whippy told me that this island held a 

 medium between mbati and ygali to Ambau, being not exactly in 

 that state of servitude that the last would imply, nor yet as free as 

 the first. 



Nairai is famous for its manufactures of mats, baskets, &c, a large 

 trade in which is carried on throughout the group by exchanges. 



The reef extends from the island four miles northward, and, where 

 it ends, turns for a short distance to the westward. There are a few 

 patches of rock on its western side, but none farther from it than half 

 a mile. This is the reef on which the Flying-Fish struck on entering 

 the group, and where she came near being lost. It does not join the 

 island, but is connected with the Mothea, or Eliza Reef; and there is, 

 between it and the island, a good ship channel, leading to the large 

 bay of Corobamba. On the eastern side of this bay, there is safe 

 anchorage, in thirteen fathoms water, with a white sandy bottom. 

 The reef, extending as it does to the southward for a long distance, 

 protects it from the sea in that direction. A broad passage leads from 

 Corobamba to the southward, and then passes between Cobu and 

 Nairai to the southwest pass through the reef. The only danger is a 

 small coral patch, lying east-southeast, a mile from the south end of 

 the island, and a mile north of Cobu Rock. 



The town of Corobamba lies at the bottom of the bay, and is next 



