Notes of Travel in Fiji and New Caledonia, with some remarks on South Sea Islanders and their languages ... With ... illustrations, etc

Front matter

NOTES OF TRAVEL IN FIJI AND NEW CALEDONIA. NOTES OF TEA VEL IN FIJI AND NEW CALEDONIA WITH SOME REMARKS OX SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS AND THEIR LANGUAGES. r.v J. W. ANDERSON, JVI.A. culith a Pap, and Illustrations Jfaflttt sketches bji the Author. LONDON: feLLISSEX & CO., 10, TYPE STREET, FINSBURY, E.C. 1880. ELLISSEN AND CO., PRINTERS, TYPE STREET, FINSBURY, E.C. PKEEACE. 1 N the following chapters I have attempted to present to my readers an unvarnished account of what appeared to me to he of interest in my travels in some of the South Sea Islands. For the benefit of such as have read glowing and gushing descriptions of travellers who have passed through these out-of-the-way spots in a hurried manner, I hope that my humble work may assist in bringing down exaggerated accounts to their proper level.

I cannot narrate in detail my various wanderings ; and accordingly I have dotted down only such facts as seem sufficient to convey a general idea of the subject. As a rule, colonies recently populated by the enter prising races of Western Europe, especially by the English and other Teutonic peoples, undergo wonderfully marked changes in a very short time. Such is the case of Australia, of New Zealand, and districts of America. To-day the traveller may visit a town of say 30,000 well-dressed inhabi tants, dwelling in substantially constructed houses, which only ten years ago may have been peopled by a few poorly- VI TREFACE. clad pioneers living in canvas tents. But this does not apply to countries such as Fiji and New Caledonia, where progress creeps along at a slow pace, sometimes approach ing to a standstill.

The notes forming the framework of these pages were penned two or three years ago ; and perhaps a few of the statements in this work might now require slight modifi cation to bring them into exact accordance with the facts of to-day. At the same time, for all practical purposes, the vital points may safely be regarded as remaining unchanged. Since I returned home, I have had the opportunity of studying most of the well-known works on Polynesia, and I have collected some information relating to Comparative Philology. I have had much pleasure in being able to add the concluding remarks on the subject of South Sea Islanders and the similarity which exists between their and other languages, as a resume of my investigations. J. W. ANDERSON. CONTENTS. FIJI.

Chapter I

— The Capital. PAGE. The "Star of the South" — Fijian beacons in sight — Levuka — "Mata ni singa" — Bird's-eye view — The Capital awake — ■ First impressions — A tour of insj)ection — The situation of the Capital — The pleasant places of Ovalau — What to do with oneself in Levuka — A motley population — Canoes and their Cargoes 1 — 18

Chapter II

— Among the Islands. Launch out — Boats and botherations — Cruising and Coral Reefs — Breakers ahead — Trip in a whale-boat — The "Boys" for a boat's crew — Pleasures of travelling — Beauties of nature — Travel overland — Roads, and the Philosophy of Roads 19—31

Chapter III

— Description of the Fiji Geoup. Where is it?— What is it like?— Viti Levu— The " Boot of War" — Ziiwa harbour — Choice coffee — Vanua Levu — Taviuni— The garden of Fiji — The home of the planters — Through the bush — Products — On the plantations — Foreign labour " boys " and kidnapping — Hoav to deal Avith the " Boys " — Queen Eleanora — Plump as partridges — Vanua Mbalavu — The Tui Lau — Maafu the conqueror — Mango — Cicia (Thithia) — Lakemba — Koro — The smaller Islands 32—47

Chapter IV

— Life in the Islands. An Island Home — House building — " Vakaviti ' ' — Furnishings — Out-houses and garden — Fencing off the natives — Water supply — Town and country life — Delightful climate — " Solid bits of rain " — Where to pitch your tent— Conditions of Health — Diet and Drugs — The Daily Round— Contents. 68 •73 36 ■113 ■118 Midnight visitors— Alone in Matuku—" Red Money — A Lovely Landscape — A plague -stricken settlement — "Where is the man?" — Hospitality under difficulties — Mad— Lead - - 48-

Chapter V

— Domestic Grievances. The bother of servants— To hire, or not to hire? — A "kanaka" at cookery lessons — Chef de Cuisine — Large scale of operations — Enlivening melodies — Enquiring turn of mind — Coffee and salt water — Though vanquished, he can argue still — "Eternally in the right" — Eatables and Drinkables ' 69

Chapter VI

— Resources. Cotton — Ups and downs — Cocoa-nut oil — Mode of manufacture — Coprah — Taxes in kind — Coprah oil — Planting the nuts — Beche-de-mer — Curing process — The China market — Pearl shell — Turtle shell, candlenuts, ndilo nuts — sandal wood, fungus — Sugar — Sugar mills — Maize — Coffee — Tobacco — Tapioca — Indigo — Success and failure in plantations -- 74-

Chapter VII

— The Native Race. The Fijians are Papuans — Characteristics — Half-castes — " Tambu" (Taboo) — " Lialia papalangi" (foolish foreigners) — Race affinities — Dialectal] peculiarities — Houses and VOages — Furnishings — "Papalangi" goods — Native vadustries — Cloth making — Domestic life — The "poor savages" are much better off for bodily comforts than the English poor — A word to philanthropists — The cocoanut palm; its manifold uses — Vegetable foods, the staple diet — Great is the Yam — Next comes the ndalo (or taro) — Mandrai (biscuit) — Potato — Bread-fruit tree, bananas, &c, various fruits — Fish: methods of fishing and fishing tackle — Sharks and turtles — Barn yard fowls and pigs — Havoc of hurricanes — Alleviation of famine — " No thought for the moirow " — A Mangiti, or Fijian feast — Preparations — The " Lovo" — Roast pig — Judicious carving — ev6a re haiTpos e'<£t'£eo7ce icpea iroWa Aatdfievos .... B6/j,ov kcitu Baivv^ievotatv. 87-

Chapter VIII

— Yangona or Kava. Fijian grog — Mode of preparation — "Your very good health" — " No heel-taps " — Another round — Peculiar taste — Effects of drinking — Improvements in preparation - - Contents. IX

Chapter IX

— Native Character. Difficulty of understanding native ways — Visit to a native school — The schoolmaster is generally a missionary — Educated native — Free and easy behaviour — Joys of school life — Hide/item dicere verum quid vetat f — After-school life of ease — Evident faculty of learning — Clear advantage in intelligent workmanship — Put not your trust in a native — Former cannibalism — Grinning familiarity and inquisitiveness — No gratitude — Childish Curiosity — " Timone ! Timone!" (Spirit! Spirit !)— " Kerikeri," the Fijian " backsheesh " — Theory of {^resents — Unconquerable procrastination — " Malua !" (By-and-bye) — " Malua marusa " — Morality — Conduct during an epidemic — Next thing to buried alive — Want of fellow-feeling* — Exceptional tenderness — Tolerance for the deformed and the demented— Lack of courage — Lords and Commons — Broad Grin — Lighthearted maidens — The " Mekemeke " (dance) — The foolish foreigner again - 119 — 138

Chapter X

— Missionaries. Home philanthropists — White missionaries in the Pacific— Good school work — Obnoxious to traders — Pioneers of civilisation — Is the native ready for dogma? — Wesleyan and Roman Catholic persuasions — Freethinking traders and planters — Bad results of missionarising at Opotiki (New Zealand) — A new fad acts as a stimulant — Rant — Display of clean " sulu " (linen) and other fine raiment — The virtues of loud singing — Gradual process of conversion suggested — Begin with ordinary elementary instruction, and advance from this — Teach sanitary laws and moral laws — Then dogma may have a chance — Meantime follow the example of Christ's preaching — Extinction of savage races — Pernicious imports — Grog and tobacco — Broiling in a great coat 139 — 14G NEW CALEDONIA.

Chapter I

— From Fiji to New Caledonia. Adieu to Levuka — "Mbuke Levu" in the distance — Discomforts on shipboard — Packed like herrings in a barrel — Characteristic living cargo — The rolling deep — Anateum (New Hebrides) — Natives — A small, duty, stupid lot — Miserable shanties — Hornet's nests more interesting — Missionary efforts — Scudding along — Off Mare (Loyalty Islands) — Contents. X ■1C0 •175 •197 •213 Mare lingo — Mare civilisation — Mare sailor-wives — Isle of Pines sighted — Nouvelle Caledonie — Anchored at Noumea 149

Chapter II

— Description of New Caledonia. Situation — Form and size — Character of coast — Coral reefs — Metalliferous hills — Noumea, the capital — The convicts — The chances of runaways — A New Zealand constabulary episode — The genial climate tends to contentment — Public performance of music by-convicts — " Our spoilers called for mirth" — Arrival of labour-vessel with "Kanakas" — Strange acquaintances — Amusements scarce — The daily round — Social life — Hotels and cafiis — Nipping and sipping — The semaphore — A hurricane — Dodging the cyclone 101

Chapter III

— A Teip up Country. Preparations — Engaging a guide — Confabulation extraordinary — The start — A dozen followers — All return but two, the one intelligent, the other lively — On the tramp — The ubiquitous Englishman — A German store -keeper — Strangers from the bush — Tampering with the guides — Firmness prevails — Pushing on — Totumba River — A dangerous ford — A useful hint — Mosquito tormentors — No sleep — Trudging forward — Cattle-rearing districts near Boulupari — Baie de St. Vincent — Up hill and down dale — A native settlement — " The ' man of bush ' lacks the savey of the ' man belong salt water.' " — Waimini River — Howto make a fire — How to boil the pot — Another native settlement — Extortionate charges — How to bargain with natives — Consideration for future travellers — The Blessed Shade — Delightful country — Quandi — A deserted village — Mount Kanala — A convict settlement — Nearing Kanala - 176-

Chapter IV

— The Nickel Country. Kanala, the second town in New Caledonia — Anchorage in the bay — Neighbouring native settlement — The Boa Kaine mine — Qualities of ore — The miners — Inspecting the lodes — The principal mines — Nature of the lodes — " A game of speculation" — Various drawbacks — Extracting the nickel — Uses of the nickel — Miners chiefly from Cornwall and Australia, — Formalities as to claims — Stringent laws — Native property must be respected — Appearance of the nickel country — A tropical downpour — Scientist and Tourist — Splendid prospect — Further mineral wealth - Contents. XI •217 ■249

Chapter V

— Further Resources. Drawbacks to mineral development — Farms and plantations — Waste — Beche-de-Mer fisheries — The persevering Chinaman — Slow development of natural resources — Causes — Repression of freedom — Latin races as colonists - 214

Chapter VI

— The Native Race. New Caledonian natives are Papuans — Characteristics — Appearance and dress — The art of ornamentation — Neglected toilet — Native works of art — Wood carving, fashioning of weapons and tools — Grotesque masks — Native villages — The casual shed — Lodging with the chief — The conical houses — Ordinary dwellings — Wood-carving ornamentation of principal houses — Aimless daily life — Dinner — The New Caledonian oven — Edibles — No ambition — Few wants — The etiquette of presents — Slow to work — Drudgery of women — Little association of the sexes — Moral qualities — Rare domestic or tribal broils — Precocious independence of bearing — Natural honesty — Missionaries — The bulk of the population neither prays, reads, nor writes — Immoral surroundings — The English or French-talking native, agreeable, but a rogue — The " poor savage " has an easy life, and is contented — Numerous dialects — Remarkable similarity of appearance, dress, and customs throughout the island — A "Pilo-pilo" (national dance) — A burial ground — Skulls and skeletons — Outbreak and Massacre — Possession of fire-arms 218* SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS.

Two races, light coloured (Malay-Polynesian, or Mahori), and dark coloured (Papuan) — Leading characteristics — Difficulties as to hah — Mode of dispersion — Generally accepted route of Malay-Polynesians — Their original point of departure — Did they travel by sea? — Comparison of the Maori tradition — Conclusions — Subsidence in the South Pacific — Evidence of coral reefs — Nature of the reefs — How the polypes build — Darwin's theory accepted — Dana's conclusions — Evidence of wonderful ruins — Previous races — Results — Mode of emigration of Papuans — Marked difference from Malay-Polynesians — Dissimilarities among themselves — Diversity of languages — Speculation as to the cause — The home of the Melanesians — Migration probably by land — Dark races in the East of the South Pacific Contents.

XII — Tongans at Moala in Fiji — Rotumah — Presumptions arising from language — Comparison of words for " Moon" — Words for "Blood" — Conclusions — The Western races — Possible connection with the mainlands — Difficulty arising from differences of hair — Tasmanians — Comparison of weapons and Implements — General conclusions - 250 — 277 Comparison of a few Words in Asiatic, Malaysian, and other Languages. The origin of man and the origin of language — The comparative method and its results — Connection of ancestral Malays with ancient races of India — Comparison of words for "eye," for "fire," "water," "stone," and the first four numerals — Conclusions ------ 277 — 284 Legends. Similar likeness between South Sea Islands' legends and legends of India — The legend of Maui, as an example — The Paropamisan legend — The Polynesian legend — Likeness amid unlikeness -------- 284 — 287 Reference to Works Consulted ----- MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE MAP OF FIJI AND NEW CALEDONIA - - Faces Titlepage. VIEW IN MOALA, FIJI 46 INTERIOR OF A FIJIAN HOUSE 48 A NEW CALEDONIAN NATIVE 218 A NEW CALEDONIAN CHIEF'S RESIDENCE - - ERRATA. Page 46, top line. Read: "A few miles south of Mango is Cicia (Thithia), another most fruitful island." Tago 108, lina 6. Read : " There is liltle [not literal] doubt." FIJI. A

Chapter I. The Capital Of Fiji

AN a charming afternoon in October, one of the spring ** months in the antipodes, we embarked on board the steamer " Star of the South," and after sundry cries of " AU aboard" were raised, and the third bell had ceased to sound its warning, we found ourselves gliding along the smooth water of the Waitemata harbour, Auckland, New Zealand. Our passengers numbered about a dozen, and the days passed away pleasantly ; but, alas ! within twelve months from the time of our trip, three of these were, by acci dent and disease, numbered with the " no more." The others who were spared have, for the most part, experienced a varied career, and I have had the pleasure of meeting two of them in parts of the world where one could hardly have anticipated — one in Cornhill, London. After a week's passage we arrived, in half a gale of wind, within sight of the Fijian group of islands, and before many hours elapsed were watching with con siderable interest until the two beacons, situated at different elevations on the high land behind Levuka, the capital town of Fiji, were in one and the same straight line.

As soon as this happened, our course was clear to a proper anchorage ; for the two lights, when once they appear in a line, serve as a guide to vessels entering the passage through the coral reef. Due to the absence of a convenient jetty, landing at Levuka A is never very pleasant work. However, the water inside the reef is generally as calm as a small lake. On the present occasion it was far from being so, on account of heavy weather outside ; so, well moistened with both rain and salt water, we stepped on shore to find the beach street washed by the breakers, and at the same time rough with shingle and badly illuminated. This state of things could not fail to strike a stranger unfavourably, more especially on learning that the beach was the prin cipal street, and indeed the only street of any extent or pretensions in the town.

The evening being well advanced when we arrived, while the weather was unseasonable, scarcely half a dozen people were moving about, and the extreme darkness and rough walking made it a most unpleasant and difficult business to search for a hotel. At last we found a resting place ; but as ill luck seemed to be having its own way for a season,we had alighted on a very second-rate "Accommodation House'' — this is the name given to such an hotel, — which we certainly should not have done in broad daylight. Thus we found our landing rather gloomy, and after a glass of most deplorably bad spirits, rested our limbs on hard, uncomfortable beds, the first of a series. When the curtain of night was drawn aside everything presented a very different appearance : such a complete change from the temperate zone was pleasantly novel.

To myself — not so much to my companion, who had spent a good portion of his existence in the tropics — the scene was truly agreeable ; the variety of nature's wonders truly impressive. We commenced the day by ascending the heights at the back of the township, until we arrived "MATA NI SING.i." 5 at one of the beacons which were so intently gazed at on the previous evening. Eor an early constitutional before breakfast this is quite sufficient, though the height reached is not great compared with the top of the range, which rises up 2,000 feet from the sea level. The " mata ni singa" (eye of day), as the Fijians call the sun, had just commenced to shoot out its heralding rays above the horizon, in a most gorgeous manner. Our early forefathers, who possessed that natural but self conceited notion that the glorious sun was always travelling and their small domicile always stationary, would no doubt be surprised to hear that as lat. 18° S. long. 178° E. revolves past the face of the light giver, our friends in lat. 51° 30 ' N. long. 5 ' W. are in darkness.

The interval between sunrise and breakfast time, about 8 o'clock, is the most agreeable part of the day in the islands, at least for climbing hills, if not for general com fort ; a few hours afterwards one is very apt to blame nature for being a trifle too profuse in her caloric bounty. We were perfectly right, therefore, in enjoying the prospect before the mercury in the shade-thermometer reached the 80 degrees. Scanning the well-defined horizon we saw the islands of Mokongai and Wakaya, 12 miles to the eastward of Levuka. But our gaze soon concentrated itself on nearer objects. There, at a distance of half a mile or so from the beacb, and parallel to it, lay the coral reef, white with the spray from the waves dashing against it, the continuity of the line being broken only by the narrow passages of deep water through the limestone structure.

Inside this natural breakwater, the work of millions (si diminutive creatures during thousands of years, reposed the calm glassy water tinted with many beautiful colours and dotted over with crafts of all sizes and shapes, from the man-of-war to the small outrigger canoe. The beach street was already alive with copper-coloured natives wending their way in markedly happy contentment to their respective duties at the white men's establishments. A few white residents, mostly dressed in white clothes and straw hats, and with towels thrown over their shoulders, were evidently steering for the bathing creek on the south side of the town, which is a regular rendez vous for numbers of the inhabitants. To miss one's " tub " in the tropics is as much a punishment as to go without a meal. The sound of anchors being weighed, of sails hoisted, of the "lalli" (drum) beaten in the native settlement adjoining the north end of Levuka proper, ushered in the day.

But what struck me, and would strike the stranger to a tropical island most, was the richness and diversity of the vegetation. No stately elms nor oaks, but, for all that, exogens and endogens of many sorts, the foliage of which is remarkably glossy. The stately cocoanut bearing palms, some 60 feet high, waved their feathered plumes, under which hung clusters of the green and yellow nuts ; the broad digitated leaves of the bread-fruit trees and the papaw tree rustled, and the large graceful wings of the plantain were bending gracefully before the light zephyr. Then the white weatherboard houses peeping out from their rich green surroundings, looked delightfully cool and FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 7 picturesque. Perhaps the newness of the scene — for Nature seemed to be dressed in garbs quite different to those which she dons in the old country — made the landscape so especially interesting to me.

Still the beautiful situation of the township, although, according to many people's idea, not desirable for the leading township in the group, cannot do otherwise than elicit a certain amount of admiration from any new arrival. The massive volcanic hills which fence in the township are very grand in their solidity, and the blue water in front as much so for its calmness and the beautiful tints of colour on its surface. One's first impressions of a place often remain more vividly fastened on the mind than others, and the details of my first day at Levuka, what with this walk and another along the beach in the afternoon to a pretty little Fijian village a mile or two off, where I first had an opportunity of seeing kava drinking, are not easily to be forgotten, and might, perhaps, be narrated here.

I propose, however, to reserve further particulars for future occasions of description. Beach Street may fairly be said to represent Levuka, so far as the business of the town is concerned ; yet there are no elaborate pretensions about it, and there is no properly made road for foot travelling, merely a rough shingly one. The houses are built a few paces distant from the margin of the water at high tide, and the street, which extends for nearly a mile, runs in a northerly and southerly direction, the fronts of the houses facing the east. There are a few other houses scattered about the flat stretching between the beach street and the foot of the hills, as well as several cosy white wooden verandahed dwellings on the undulating land ; still, all the principal houses of business are by the sea-shore.

In fact, Beach Street contains a succession of stores, with public-houses, or, more properly speaking, accommodation houses, placed at moderate distances apart. There are very few shops, in the English sense of the word — that is to say, houses where only one particular kind of article is sold. True, there is a baker's shop, a druggist's, and a butcher's ; bnt the majority of the principal buildings are the stores, and in these every sort of merchandise can be bought. Tou do not speak of a man being a shop keeper ; he is a store-keeper. One hears it said that in some outlying islands a person who owns a few bars of soap, and a few boxes of sardines, claims for himself the right to use this title. Levuka boasts of some stores of considerable size, where you can buy anything, from a cask of beef to a ship's anchor, from a fish-hook to a silk dress — indeed, most of the desirables and nearly all the necessaries of colonial life, except fresh provisions.

For the latter you must move elsewhere. Vegetables can easily be purchased from natives, who sell yams, taro, kumalas or sweet potatoes, &c, as well as fowls, eggs, fish, and so forth. The leading store-keepers do not confine themselves to selling imported goods, but launch out in every direction, buying cargoes of island produce, such as coprah, pearlshell, beche-de-mer, &c, from traders, and also plantation produce from planters. In order to see Levuka properly — and half-an-hour will be sufficient time to do so completely — it will be advisable to start from the extreme south end, that is to A TOUR OF INSPECTION. 9 say, from Government House, Nasova, where the present Governor resides. It is a wooden verandahed building, with thatched roof. The main part of the building looks seaward, and two wings, one at each end, jut out at right angles towards the sea.

There are no other houses — with the exception of "vales," in which the native soldiers live, — in proximity to it. It thus stands isolated as regards Levuka, and, though a few hundred miles from the nearest railway station, has a species of wharf, alongside of which a man-of-war's boat can moor, not many yards off. It is an eligible residence, different though it be to most Government Houses in appearance and dimensions. By steering in a northerly direction along the path which skirts the beach, you arrive, after a few minutes' walk, at a bluff, which juts out and obscures much of the view. Turning the corner sharply, you come in view of the greater part of the town. Smith's cotton ginning establishment, used as a temporary barracks for the Royal Engineers, when they first landed in Fiji, will attract your attention, by its show of galvanized iron.

Proceeding straight along and passing small and larger wooden houses — for stone fabrics are not the order of the day in new townships, especially in hot new ones, — you will notice the Roman Catholic Church, the pastor of which is Father Breheret, a man whose name is respected by all, on account of his zeal in his mission work. At the back of this church stands the gaol, which, fortunately, is not a large structure and contains few inmates. Crossing the wooden bridge over the Totonga creek, you will come upon a number of stores, then the Wesleyan Chapel, and the Times office. A few more paces will bring you to the Supreme Court, built on a rock, which forms a peninsula to the eastward of the footpath and gives rather a picturesque look to the town, especially as seen from a hundred yards off the land.

Here the beach street is divided into two separate parts, so that, having passed this partitioning promontory, you cannot survey the ground which you have just travelled over. More stores, two of large dimensions, are on the north side of the dividing rock, and at very nearly the end of the street is the principal hotel, a large and spacious wooden building, which boasts of a good broad verandah. It will be agreeable to seat yourself here on an American easy chair, and admire the beautiful calmness of the sea in front, and the elegant design of the fountain on the verandah, as well as to watch the gambols of the monkey, if it still exists to amuse the hotel frequenters. At the same time one may keep one's ears open for gossip, for very much of the news of the islands is circulated on this verandah before travelling along Beach Street, and to the various islands scattered over the South Sea.

Tales of adventure amongst the Pacific Islands, of shipwreck, of fracas with Solomon and other islanders, &c, grievances of planters, and numerous opinions about the proper method of setting Fiji properly on her feet — such are some of the topics that will alternately claim attention. Of course, "cotton" and "the labour question" yarns are spun over and over again, and in the language of energetic dissatisfaction. Let us proceed on our tour of inspection. Not many yards onwards, you observe the Post Office, a small, ITS SITUxiTION-DIVIDED OPINIONS. 11 unpretentious building, on the left hand, and then the late Consul's residence and offices on the right hand side of the footpath. Now you have seen most of civilized Levuka, and are standing on the banks of a pleasant creek, which the Fijian maidens frequent to perform their ablutions.

If you think fit to cross this stream, you will have t° balance yourself on the two cocoanut trees which serve the pm-pose of a bridge. When on the other side, you will find yourself in a native settlement where the houses are built in the usual Fijian style, rather close to one another, and, though so near to civilization, without any introduced improvements. Passing by this collection of thatched houses, you will, after a minute or two's walk, come in sight of Vagandavi, where the Royal Engineers' barracks — built in a style to suit the climate — stand conspicuously in a healthy position on the high ground, at a convenient distance from the town. After this the chances are that you will retrace your steps, for there is no choice of roads to vary the walk back. The town of Levuka lies at the base of hills which rise not many score of yards from the beach.

It is thus most limited in extent, and, though some people assert that its position is quite good enough for the present state of trade in the islands, still there is little doubt that its situation is very far from perfect. Suva, the newly-chosen capital, on the south of Viti Levu, the largest island in the group, possesses very many advantages, and has a first-rate harbour ; yet, while the sluggish state of affairs in Fiji continues, it would be very surprising to find the Levuka shopkeepers shifting their quarters. Without question, Levuka is decidedly limited as to its flat land. At the same time there seems to be so small a chance of any township in the group going ahead in commercial prosperity and extending its borders with such gigantic strides as some in New Zealand and Australia, that it is, perhaps, rather premature to con demn the place.