GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF THE FIJI ISLANDS.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 285, 13 July 1860, Page 3

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF THE FIJI ISLANDS.

The entire group comprises not fewer than two hundred and twenty five islands and islets, about eighty of which are inhabited. Among these every variety of outlinexan be found, from the simple form of the coral isle to the rugged and often majestic grandeur of volcanic structure. The islands in the eastern part of the Archipelago, are anal), and have a general

resemblance to each other; towards the west they are large and diversified.: The two largest are superior to any found in the vast ocean field stretching thence to the Sandwich Islands; while- the everchanging beauties of scenery enable the voyager, as he threads the intricate navigation among reefs and islands, to share the feelingsthus expressed by. Commodore Wilkes: "So beautiful was their aspect, that I could scarcely bring by mind to the realizing sense of. the! well-known fact, that they were the abode of a savage, ferocious, and treacherous race of cannibals." When each island of so large a group has a claim to be noticed, selection is difficult, and the temptation to detail strong. It must not, however, be yielded to, a few Examples sufficing to give a general idea of the whole. Yathataand Vatuvara are placed by geologists in a class that has long been in high favor as the fairy lands of the South Seas. They are composed of sand and coral debris, covered with a deep soil of vegetable mould. Yathata is hilly and fertile. Of this class there are few in Fiji. They are from;twp to six miles in circumference, haying the usual belt of white sand, and the circlet of cocoa-nuts with their foliage of " pristine vigour and perennial green." Such islands have generally one village, inhabited by fifty or one hundred oppressed natives. The other islands to windward are of volcanic formation, their shore only having a coral base. Vulanga is one of this class, and appears as though its centre had been blown out by violent explosions, leaving only a circumferent rim, which to the west and south is broad, and covered with rocks of black scoria rising to a height of nearly two hundred ieet; but to the north-east is narrow and broken. This rim encircles an extensive sheet of water of a dark blue color, studded with scoriceous islets, enamelled with green, and worn away between the extremes of high and low water until they resemble huge trees of a mushroom form; thus giving a most picturesque effect to this sheltered haven of unbroken calm. My first entrance to this Jagoon was made at the risk of life; and the attempt would be vain to tell how welcome were its quiet waters after the stormy peril outside. A mountainous-surf opposed the strong* current which forced its way through the intricate passage, causing a most terrific whirl and commotion, in the midst of which a largo canoe was tossed about like a splinter. The excitement of the time was intense, and the impressions then made were indelible. The manly voice of Tubou Toutai, issuing his commands amid the thunder of the breakers, and the shriaks of affrighted women; the laboring oi the canoe in its heaving bed of foam; the strained exertions of the men at the steer-oar; the anxiety which showed itself on every face were all in broad contrast with the felt security, the easy progress, and undisturbed repose which were attained the moment the interior of the basin was reached. Vulanga, although having its own beauty, is so barren that little except hardly timber is found growing upon it. Its gullies are bare of earth, so that neither the yam nor the banana repay culture. Smaller roots with fish, which abound here, and yavato— a large wood maggot—give food to the inhabitants of four villages. Mothe, lying to the N. E. of Vulunga, is very fruitful, having an undulating surface much more free from wood than the islands to the south. A fortrees occupies its highest elevation, in walking to which the traveller finds himself surrounded by scenery of the richest loveliness. A sandy beach of seven miles nearly surrounds it. There are many islands of this size in the group, each containing from 200 to 400 inhabitants. Lakemba, the largest of the eastern islands, is nearly round, having a diameter of five or six miles, and a population of about 2000 souls. Totoya, Moala, Naira, Koro, Ngau, Mbengga, exhibit on a large scale the beauties of those islands already named, having, in addition, the imposing charms of volcanic irregularities. Among their attractions are high mountains, abrupt precipices-, conical hills, fantastic turrets and crags of rock frowning down like olden' battlements, vast domes, peaks shattered into strange forms; native towns on eyrie cliffs, apparently inaccessible; and deep ravines, down which some mountain stream, after long murmuring in its stony bed, falls headlong," glittering as a silver line on a block of jet, or spreading, like a sheet of glass, over bare rocks which refuse it a channel. Here also are found the softer features oi rich vales, cocoa nut groves, clumps ; of dark chesnuts, stately palms and bread fruit, patches of graceful bananas, or well tilled taro beds, mingling in unchecked luxuriance, and forming, with the wild reef scenery of the girdling shore, its beating surf and far stretching ocean beyond, pictures of surpassing beauty. Maiuku is eminent for loveliness where all are lovely. These islands are from fifteen to thirty miles in circumference, haying populations of from 1000 ,to 7000 each. Mbau is a small island, scarcely a mile long, joined to the main—Viti Levu —by a long flat of coral, which at low water is nearly dry, and at high water fordable. The town, bearing the same name as the island, is one of the most striking in appearance of any in Fiji, covering, as it does, a great part of the island with irregular placed houses of all sizes, and tall temples with projecting ridge-poles, interspersed with unsightly canoe sheds. Here is concentrated the principal political power of Fiji. Its inhabitants comprise natives of Mbau and the Lasakau and Soso tribes. Taviuni—commonly called Somosomo, from its town of that name being the residence of tke wling dut&r—is too fine an

island to be overlooked. It is about 25 miles long, with a coast; of 60 miles, and consists of one vast mountain, gradually rising to a central ridge of 2100 feet elevation. Fleecy clouds generally hide its summit, where stretches a considerable lake, pouring through an outlet to the west a stream which, after tumbling and dashing along its narrow bed, glides quietly through the chief town, furnishing it with a good supply of fresh water. A smaller outlet to the east discharges enough water to form a small but beautiful cascade. This lake is supposed to have as its bed the crater of an extinct volcano, an idea supported by the quantity of volcanic matter found on the island. However wild and. terrible the appearance of the island once, it is now covered with luxuriance and beauty beyond the conception of the most glowing imagination. Perhaps every characteristic of Fijian scenery is found on Somosomo, while all the tropical vegetables are produced here in perfection. It has only a land reef, which is often very narrow,' and in many places entirely wanting, breaking towards Tasman's Straits, into detached patches. Kandavu is another large and mountainous island, twenty-five miles long, by six or eight wide. It has a very irregular shore, abounds in valuable timber, and has a population of from 10,000 to 13,000. A good idea of the general appearance of these islands is obtained by regarding them as the elevated portions of submerged continents. The interior is in many instances a single hill or mountain, and in many others, a range, the slopes of which, with the plains mostly found at their feet, constitute the island. There yet remain to be noticed two large islands, which, when compared with those stretching away to the east, assume the importance of continents. 1 Vanua Levu (Great Land) is more than a hundred miles long, having an average breadth of twenty-five miles. Its western extremity is notable as being the only part of Fiji in which sandal-wood can be produced. The opposite point of the island is deeply indented by the Natawaßay, which is forty miles long, and named by the natives ~" the Dead Sea." The population of Vanua Levu is estimated at 31,000. Its scenery much resembles that of Na Vita Levu (the Great Fiji) which measures ninety miles from east to west, and fifty from north to south. A great variety of landscape is found in navigating the shores of Great Fiji. To the S.E. there is tolerably level ground 36 miles inland, edged in places by cliffs of sandstone five hundred feet high. The luxurious and cheerful beauty of the lowland then gives place to the gloomy grandeur and unbroken solitude of the mountains. To the S.W. are low shores with patches of brown, barren land; then succeed narrow vales, beyond which rise hills, whose wooded tops are in fine contrast with the bold bare front at their base. Behind these are the highest mountains in the group, bleak and sterile, with an altitude of 4000 or 5000 feet. Westward and to the east, high land is close to the shore, with only strips of level ground separating it from the sea. Proceeding northward, some of the finest scenery in Fiji is opened out. The lowar level, skirted by a velvety border of mangrove bushes, and enriched with tropical shrubs, is backed, to the depth of four or five miles, by hilly ground, gradually reaching an elevation of from 400 to 700 feet, with the lofty blue mountains seen, through deep ravines, in the distance. Great Fiji has a continuous land or shore reef, with a broken sea reef extending from the west to the north. The Great Land also has in most parts a shore reef, with a barrier reef stretching from its N-E. point the whole length of the island, and beyond it in a westerly direction. Great Fiji is supposed to contain at least 50,000 inhabi-tants.—-Fiji and Fijians.