286 MALOLO. 
cannot view it as unmerited, and the extent to which it was carried 
was neither dictated by cruelty nor revenge. I thought that they had 
been long enough allowed to kill and eat with impunity, every defence- 
less white that fell into their hands, either by accident or misfortune, 
and that it was quite time, as their intercourse with our countrymen 
on their adventurous voyages was becoming more frequent, to make 
the latter more secure. I desired to teach the savages that it was not 
weakness or fear that had thus far stayed our hands; and was aware, 
too, that they had ridiculed and misunderstood the lenity with which 
they had heretofore been treated both by the French and English men- 
of-war. 
During the night I found it would be impossible for the boats to 
proceed, and I felt little inclined to run the risk of another accident 
through want of care and necessary precaution in dealing with the 
natives. I therefore determined on sending them back to the ship by 
as direct a route as possible, and ordered them to make the best of 
their way to Muthuata, proceeding first to the Annan Islands, thence 
across to Mbua Bay and along the north shore of Vanua-levu. They 
arrived at Muthuata on the 31st day of July, bearing the sad news of 
the events at Malolo. 
Remaining myself in the tender, I proceeded, with the Porpoise in 
company, to the Vitilevu shore, intending to pass out of the Malolo 
Passage; but we found the flood setting so strong, that we were com- 
pelled to anchor under the Navula Reef, where we lay until the tide 
changed, employing ourselves looking over the extensive reef for shells, 
and observing to fix and prove the survey of the passage. The opening 
through the great reef here, which I have called the Navula Passage, 
is very remarkable; it has for portals two small islands of nearly the 
same size, which I have named Waldron and Spieden, after the pursers 
of the Expedition, between which the tide rushes with great strength. 
The great sea-reef appears to have been here broken asunder by some 
convulsion of nature, and the rushing tide has entirely swept the 
fragments away, leaving a fine open passage between the two islands 
of a mile in width. This may be termed the lee reef of these islands. 
Few things are more remarkable than the extent of these zoophytic 
formations; and the variety of their shapes, direction, and configu- 
ration, seem to put all speculation at defiance. Although I had often, 
in sailing over them in my boat, been impressed with the beautiful ap- 
pearances they exhibited, I thought this day they excelled any I had 
before seen, and had a still closer resemblance to a rich parterre of 
flowers. I could scarcely realize the fact, that objects so essentially 
different could, by any means or in any way, be made to resemble 
