BE TURN TO KANE A VU. 
191 
have had time to devote attention to their culti- 
vation. 
This archipelago is one of the largest and most 
beautiful in the Pacific Ocean, lying due north of 
New Zealand, and to the east of New Guinea. We 
owe its discovery to Tasman, who sighted the group 
on the 6th February 1643. Some additional interest 
is just now attached to these islands from the desire 
of the chiefs to cede the sovereignty to Great Britain. 
The inducements and reasons offered in support of 
their cession are — their importance to commerce, 
which would be developed in the archipelago, their 
rich production, the growth of cotton, and the oppor- 
tunity for the formation of a naval depot and port of 
call for the trans-oceanic mail service between San 
Francisco and Australia. 
From Levuka we returned to Kandavu, and here 
remained sufficiently long to make a survey of the 
anchorage (Ngola Bay). As yet it cannot boast of 
the pretension of even a village. A few houses are 
scattered along tffe beach, which probably before long 
will assume a more important aspect. Kandavu 
is the south-westernmost of the Fiji Islands, and, 
except around its highest mountains, cultivation or 
its traces can be seen in all directions. It is about 
25 miles long, and throughout its whole length 
is high and precipitous. The island is well covered 
with timber resembling the New Zealand kauri 
pine, and most of the large canoes used amongst 
