Having formally taken leave of the Roko and his family, we embarked, leaving Mathuata with very pleasant impressions of the hearty genial kindness of its people. The day was lovely, and we were able to sail all the way inside the reef, so there was the double advantage of being in smooth water and seeing the coast to perfection. For the tropics, it is very barren, _pandanus_ and _noko-noko_ being the principal foliage. At this season the people in all parts of the isles have an annual burning of the tall reeds to clear the land for their plantations. The smoky haze gives a rich lurid colour to the atmosphere, and deepens the blue of the near mountains, while it blends the distant ranges in soft dreamy lights. We arrived here at sunset last night. Neivaka Point is a grand rocky headland, with a very pretty village, on a palm-fringed shore, with a clear stream, which here flows into the sea. We went ashore for an hour or so, but as we have to push on early this morning, it was decided that we must sleep on board. So we all lay on deck in the bright starlight, and towards morning there was clear moonlight, and then a lovely sunrise. I see the boat coming off from the shore, so we shall soon be under way. CHAPTER XIX. THE CHIEF OF MBUA—FEUDAL RIGHTS—A NIGHT IN A MISERABLE VILLAGE—CHURCH _A LA_ ST COLUMBA—NIGHT ON A DESERT ISLE—SAVU SAVU—BOILING SPRINGS—THEIR USE—PAST AND FUTURE. NI SONI SONI, VANUA LEVU, _August 16_. We are resting in great peace in a large clean church, built of coral-lime. It stands apart from the village, on a grassy spit of land, divided from the sea-beach only by a border of Fijian lilies—overhead are tall cocoa-palms. It is a calm pleasant spot, and we hope for a night of peace and rest, of which we stand sorely in need. We hoped to have reached Mbua about noon on the 13th, but we had seventeen miles to make in a head-wind, so it was near sunset ere we anchored in the bay, after which we had to row three miles up the river, which, like the Rewa, has several mouths, and we tried the wrong one first, and rowed a considerable distance up a fine stream, dense with _tiri_ (mangrove) on either side. Then, retracing our ground, we made a fresh start for the town; but by this time it was so dark that we could only discern dark palms against the sky, and had to shout to people on the shore to learn our way. On reaching the mission station we found the inmates absent, but the students lighted up the house, and prepared tea and milk; and soon a kind neighbour (Miss Wilkinson) brought us a welcome gift of fresh butter and bread. I regret to say her father is suffering seriously from internal cramp, brought on by long exposure in the canoe coming to Nasova with the news of the wreck of the Fitzroy.