342 VITI ISLANDS. 
long sloping declivities. There is an occasional precipitous bluff 
near its shores, such as Mathuata and Evaka,* on the north and west 
sides, and some short ridges of singular mammillated and sugar-loaf 
outline; but in general there is a dull uniformity in the features of 
the ridges, and in the dry, grassy fields, which cover the declivities far 
up towards the region of forest trees. None of its rivers are as large as 
those of Viti Lebu. We examined one at Tavea, Nailoa Bay, on the 
northwest side of the island, which is one hundred and fifty yards 
wide towards its mouth. For the last four miles of its course, it is a 
deep estuary, running through an alluvial plain, eight or ten square 
miles in area, evidently formed from the river detritus. The river 
brings down large quantities of water in the rainy season. The bay— 
which, however, is no other than the passage within the reef along 
this side of the island—is fast filling up from its detritus: we found 
scarcely three fathoms of water over the muddy bottom, instead of the 
ten or twelve fathoms which is the usual depth in other parts of the 
channel. 
The mangrove bushes subserve a very important part in the forma- 
tion of these new alluvial tracts. They form a crowded line for 
miles along the shore, ready to thrust down their new roots and secure 
every inch of land that is once added, the outermost, usually standing 
in two to four feet water at high tide. They thus entangle whatever 
is brought down from the land by the rains, or is washed up from the 
bay, or deposited by the river. When once the end is gained, and 
the rescued lands are becoming dry, the bushes gradually disappear 
and leave it to be occupied by the vegetation of the dry land. 
Another river of considerable size empties at Mali Point; but nei- 
ther this nor any others on the island were examined. 
Ovalau is a small island, averaging seven miles in diameter, lying 
near the northeastern corner of Viti Lebu. It is peculiar in contain- 
ing an interior plain, surrounded by a high ridge, which follows the 
circumference of the island, with a single opening to the southward 
and westward. The ridge varies from one to two thousand feet in 
height. It rises from the shores very abruptly, with grass fields 
which soon give way to dense forests, and these again yield to the bare 
rocks in spots towards the top. ‘The ridge in its highest part presents 
a beetling front towards the interior plain, and on all sides the decli- 
vities are steep. The interior is adorned with an exuberant forest 
vegetation. Among the forests there are a few villages mostly con- 
* Names anglicised to Mudwater and Hy-parker. 
