Now a party of laughing brown children are holding up small torches of blazing bamboo, by the light of which I am writing; but the illumination seems to me so likely to end in a general blaze that I will not be responsible for it. And so good night. The girls are greatly delighted with my hair-brushes, especially my tooth-brush. I shall have to keep jealous guard lest they experiment with it! They themselves use wooden combs, sometimes ornamented with coloured string and beads. Really these falling sparks are too dangerous. Good night again. * * * * * NAVOUNINDRALA, _Dec. 28_. Here we are back at the junction of the two streams, on which we have spent so strangely interesting a fortnight. Our voyage in the canoe is over, and we are once more on the main stream, at the point where we left the boat. I began this letter to you at beautiful Nakamerousi. As soon as possible I disappeared within my shawl-tent, and then commenced the family supper, followed by much smoking, in which the young ladies joined freely. At last I could stand it no longer, and begged them to desist, which they did forthwith with the utmost courtesy. A few minutes later all present joined in family prayers, then the house was cleared, and only Mrs Reuben and her small boys remained with me. On the following morning I with much difficulty escaped from the infliction of a great feast which the kind villagers had prepared for me, by contriving to make them understand that they should reserve it for the mission party. The mountains were magnificently clear, and I secured a satisfactory sketch ere the rest of the party arrived. Of course the people crowded round to inspect this new and extraordinary method of _writing the mountains_ in many colours; but they were most courteous and quiet, and as usual my only cause of complaint was their vile habit of incessantly spitting. From the first day that I commenced sketching in Fiji I discovered that here, as with most other semi-civilised races, white as well as coloured, the first sentence it was necessary to learn was a request to abstain from this noxious practice in my immediate neighbourhood! Now we are back in Ratu Richard’s nice tidy house, which to-day is like a botanical show; for on the way up I gave some children small silver coins for bringing me fronds of a lovely fern with ripe seed (which I enclose for Eisa), and also for other curious plants; so the whole population have been ransacking the bush, and have brought us many rare flowers. I never before saw so many in Fiji. But I fear the poor people are sorely disappointed that I do not want to buy them all. I have, however, just bought a very fine necklace of whale’s teeth, which I hope to show you some day. What a sensation it would make at a Northern Meeting Ball! * * * * * BAU, _New Year’s Eve_.