MBUA BAY AND MUTHUATA, 911 
serted. This island is eight hundred feet high, and on the top are 
the remains of a fortification of stone, whose walls are four feet high, 
surrounded by a moat several feet deep, and ten feet wide. From 
this height the passages through the reefs were very distinctly seen, 
and could be traced for a long distance. On presents being dis- 
tributed to all the natives who were present, it was amusing to see 
the young son of a chief, according to the custom of his country, 
very deliberately taking possession of the whole, and rolling them up 
in his maro. 
On the 3d, they were still beating up for the Malaki Passage, and 
were in hopes of being able to pass out of it; but the wind being 
ahead, it was found too narrow to beat through. After sustaining two 
sharp thumps, it was deemed advisable to return and await a more 
favourable opportunity. Some of the officers again landed on a small 
island of much less height than Malaki, but nothing interesting was 
found. It had evidently been inhabited, from the overgrown and 
deserted plantations which were every where to be seen. The island 
was, for the most part, covered with a sweet-scented grass, (Andro- 
pogon schznanthus.) 
They had now been seven days upon this coast, with the wind 
blowing directly along it, and had only made about fifty miles. This 
channel through the reefs must always be fatiguing and wearing to 
both vessel and crew. For the whole distance they found the bottom a 
white clay, and the depth of water varying from five to twenty fathoms. 
As they approached the windward side of the island, they found the 
weather to become more rainy, and the winds much stronger. 
On the 5th, at daylight, they passed out of the reef and stood over 
for Mbua or Sandalwood Bay. The weather during the day set in 
stormy, so much so as to make their situation not only unpleasant 
but dangerous, in consequence of the many reefs by which they were 
surrounded, and which they had to pass through before reaching their 
destination. ‘These reefs on the shores of Vanua-levu, in the most 
favourable times, are dangerous, but particularly so in thick and 
stormy weather. Fortunately, when near the passage, they were 
able to see the land for a short time, and soon after reached their 
destination in safety. 
In passing into the bay they discovered the buoy I had left for 
Captain Hudson, with the despatches enclosed in a bottle, and had it 
brought on board. 
Lieutenant Underwood joined them soon after, and set out the next 
morning with the ship’s rudder-pintles for Captain Belcher. Captain 
Hudson then sent a boat to the town for the king or one of the princi- 
