Islands far away; Fijian pictures with pen and brush . gain in the eveningwe stopped at Somosomo, famous in the old days for its awfulcannibalism. The rain had cleared, and by moonlight wewalked up to the house of the chief, but he was unfortunatelyaway in Suva. I wish he had been at home as we should havebeen in sympathy, for he is evidently a great gardener, hisgrounds being terraced, and most beautifully laid out likethose of an English gentleman of good taste. This was theonly instance of the kind I came across in Fiji ; for, fond asthe natives are of flowers, they do not seem to think of
Islands far away; Fijian pictures with pen and brush . gain in the eveningwe stopped at Somosomo, famous in the old days for its awfulcannibalism. The rain had cleared, and by moonlight wewalked up to the house of the chief, but he was unfortunatelyaway in Suva. I wish he had been at home as we should havebeen in sympathy, for he is evidently a great gardener, hisgrounds being terraced, and most beautifully laid out likethose of an English gentleman of good taste. This was theonly instance of the kind I came across in Fiji ; for, fond asthe natives are of flowers, they do not seem to think of goingin for any kind of landscape gardening, and there was no garden * This was the Great Council (Mboso vaka Turanga) to which the chief nativeswho arc also officials are periodically summoned to discuss, at the centre ofGovernment, all important matters affecting Native Administration—thus co-ordinating the views of the Provincial Council (Mbose vaka Yasana), and sub-mitting these for the consideration of the Governor as the Kings < <oq < ?J < CO l-H Ztn 190 Islands Far Away. at all round any of the chiefs houses at which I had in the evening of the 13th, we anchored at Lambasa onVanua Levu, the second of the two large islands of the Fijigroup. Though in form it is totally different from Viti Levu,being long and narrow instead of somewhat square, measuringa hundred miles long by twenty-five wide, it has exactly thesame circumference, two hundred and fifty miles. Here, again, is a considerable river, the Qawa, on the alluvialplain of which grows the sugar cane for the Lambasa sugar-mill, which is situated on the river farther up. At break of day I rose, and watched the golden disc of thesun appear from behind a dip in the mountains, casting glow-ing colours into the sky, and a trail of light across the scene was peacefully beautiful, and I was sorry to leavethe sea and go away up the river inland. A big red punt, how-ever, w
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