Suva, The Chief Town In Fiji,
And The Headquarters Of The Government, Is On This Island, But Very Few
Europeans
Travel far beyond the coast, and my friends in Suva declared
that I would have a fit of repentance before
I had travelled very far,
as the interior of the island is extremely mountainous and rough. After
a great deal of trouble I managed to get an interpreter named Masirewa,
who came from the small island of Bau. He was a fine-looking fellow,
and, like most Fijians, possessed a tremendous mop of hair. His stock
of English was limited, and we often misunderstood each other, but he
proved a most amusing companion, if only on account of his unlimited
"cheek."
I ought here to mention that Fijians vary a great deal, both in colour
and language. Fiji is the part of the Pacific where various types meet,
viz., Papuan, Malayan, and Polynesian. The mountaineers around Namosi,
which I visited, who were all cannibals twenty-five years ago, are
much darker in colour than the coast natives, and they are undoubtedly
of Papuan origin.
I left Suva with Masirewa on the morning of October 12th, and after
a short sea voyage of three or four hours on a small steam launch,
we arrived at the village of Navua. I had a letter to Mr. McOwan,
the government commissioner for that district. He put me up for the
night, and we played several games of tennis, and my stay, though
short, was an exceedingly pleasant one. The whites in Fiji are the
most hospitable people in the world. They are of the old REGIME that
is dying out fast everywhere.
The next day I set out on my journey into the interior, Masirewa
and another Fijian carrying my baggage (which was wrapped up in
waterproof cloth) on a long bamboo pole. We followed the course of
the Navua River for some distance. In the swamps bordering the river
grew quantities of a variety of sago palm (SAGUS VITIENSIS) called by
the natives Songo. They extract the sago from the trunk, and the palm
always dies after flowering. After passing through about four miles
of sugar cane, with small villages of the Indian coolies who work in
the cane fields, we left behind us the last traces of civilization. We
next came to a very beautiful bit of hilly country, densely wooded on
the hills, though bordering the broad gravelly beaches of the river
were long stretches of beautiful grassy pastures. Darkness set in
as we ascended some thickly wooded hills. The atmosphere was damp
and close, and mosquitoes plentiful, and small phosphorescent lumps
seemed to wink at us out of the darkness on every side. I had to strike
plenty of matches to discover the track, and continually bumped myself
against boulders and the trunks of tree-ferns. It was late when we
arrived at the village of Nakavu, on the banks of the Navua River,
where I was soon asleep on a pile of mats in the hut of the "Buli,"
or village chief.
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