11. 
Situation, Description, and Productions of 
THE Islands. 
Fiji consists of a large group of islands of different sizes, 
numbering about two hundred and twenty-five in all. Of 
these, about eighty are inhabited. The remainder are small 
coral islets, not large enough to sustain any number of 
inhabitants. Some of these islands are of volcanic origin; 
but others — and the principal portion — are of coral struc- 
ture. The islands in the eastern part of the Archipelago are 
smaller, but those to the west, larger and more diversified in 
appearance. Among the principal islands are the following : 
Na Viti Levu, " the great Fiji," ninety miles in length, and 
fifty in breadth ; Vanua Levu, Great land," more than 
one hundred miles long, and about twenty-five in breadth ; 
Kandavu, twenty-five miles long, by six or eight wide ; 
Taviuni, about twenty-five miles long; Lakemba, Mbau, 
Totoya, Koro, Moala, Nairai, Ngau, Vulanga, Mothe, 
Yathata, and Vatuvara. 
The name of this group is variously written, as Fejee, 
Fidgee, Feigee, Viji, and Viti. The population of the 
group was estimated at from 150,000 to 200,000, equalling 
the population of the Hervey, Marquesas, and Samoan 
islands, with Tongatabu, Tahiti, and some other large 
islands ; but an epidemic of measles in 1875, gi*eatly reduced 
the number of inhabitants. 
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