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A BOTANICAL TOUR AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 125
injury until tliey i-each the earth, in which they quickly bury themselves, and
act as stays to prevent the stem being blown about by the wind. I was fre-
quently startled during my walks, which were often long and tedious, though
always interesting, by the rattling of the huge pods of Mucima glganiea, or
"Big Bean," which are often two feet in length, and as broad as one's hand.
Occasionally on the Liocarpus edtiUs, " South Sea Chestnut," whose singular
stem I have described, and also growing on the branches of Artocaipus incisa,
I have met with two species of Loranthus and a Viscum. These parasites are
very interesting and ornamental.
I was struck with the beautiful and picturesque scenery at Burrcta. From
the consul's liouse (Mr. Thurston's), which is situated upon a hill from wliich
a charming view may be had of the port of Ovalau, looking nortliwards, that
wilderness of beauty in the valley of Livone,—a garden, in fact, with its
towering Cocoa-nut-palms and lofty Ferns, together with clumps of Plantain
and Banana studded about here and there, through the other rich and varied
vegetation,—would alone present a truly magnificent picture. Turning round,
the eye looks upon the long, low, and narrow but pretty island of Moturika,
with its islets, distant a couple of miles, the big Fiji, " Viti-levu," being in the
distance as a background ; the unrippled surface between and beneath as a
foreground is an expanse of vegetation of emerald green, margined with the
white Sflndy beach and coral reefs, or by belts more or less broken of the
never-to-be-forgotten Cocos nucifera.
Mr. Thurston's cotton plantations are among the best I have seen, great
care having been taken to keep the various sorts of Cotton apart, a pi-ecaution
which mvist be obsei'ved if one desires to have good varieties. It often liappens
that when the sorts are planted in too close proximity the pollen is transmitted
from one to the other, and the result is of course hybrid between tliem. Tlie
settlers say that the hybrid is inferior to eitlier. I cannot help thinking, liow-
ever, that a very good sort of Cotton might be obtained between the Egyptian
and the Sea-island. The silky substance of the one and the long staple of the
other sliould make a good variety for commercial purposes.
Nearly everything might be grown in the Fijis. I noticed some yavy good
vegetables in a settler's garden. Mr. Thurston's very excellent overseer (Mr.
Loinbergh) assured me that the Indian-corn frequently bears three crops in
the season, and that tliere are often sis cobs upon a single stalk. After leaving
Bun-eta, I proceeded in the consul's boat up the Rewa river, the mouth of
which is distant about forty miles. I was pleased to have so good an oppor-
tunity of seeing this part of Fiji, and I was not unsuccessful in my botanical
explorations.
Twenty miles or more from the mouth the river is often more tlian a quar-
ter of a mile in width, and along its banks are some extensive cotton and coffee
plantations ; among the more important of wliich are those of the Messrs.
Storck. Sugar, too, in small cultivated patches, occurs in places.
For miles inland, along the river, the country is generally of an undulating
nature, and the soil remarkably productive. It consists in many places of a
mixture of pulverized volcanic rock and vegetable deposit, which, saturated