This island is itself quite beautiful, though by no means a desirable one on which to establish a capital, as it consists entirely of very steep hills, rising to a height of about 3000 feet, crowned with great crags, and rent by deep gorges densely wooded. The only available building land is a narrow strip on the edge of the sea; and though, of course, the lower spurs of the hills may gradually be dotted with villas, there is no possibility of extending the town unless by expensive terracing—a game which would certainly not be worth the candle, as saith the proverb. I must say the little town greatly exceeds our expectations. We had imagined it was still the haunt of uproarious planters and white men of the lowest type, described by visitors a few years ago, instead of which we find a most orderly and respectable community, of about 600 whites, inhabiting 180 wooden houses. We are told that the reformation in the sobriety of the town is partly due to the Good Templars, who here muster a very considerable brotherhood. Doubtless their work is greatly facilitated by the increased price of gin, which in former days flowed like water, at the modest price of one shilling a bottle, but has now risen to five times that sum. It used to be said that ships needed no chart to bring them to Fiji, for they would find the way marked by floating gin-bottles, increasing in numbers as they approached the group. Those were the days when men meeting at noonday to discuss grave matters of business found their deliberations assisted by a jug of raw gin, to be drunk in tumblers as other men would drink water! Certainly if the multitude of broken bottles which strew the beach were any evidence of the amount of liquor consumed, we might imagine that the old drinking days were not yet wholly forgotten. The principal shops (or stores, as they are called) lie along the beach, and, without much outward show, are fully stocked with all things needful, which a European can buy at about one-third more than he would pay in England. But by a singular phase of commercial morality, a native wishing to purchase the same article is invariably made to pay a very much higher price, and this is done quite openly, as a generally accepted condition of trade! There are several respectable boarding-houses, and two or three hotels, where the planters find quarters when they come to this great metropolis. I am rather afraid you will not have a very dignified idea of our capital, when I confess that our great main street has only houses on one side, and the street itself is only a strip of rocky, muddy, or shingly sea-beach. Various attempts have been made to build up a low sea-wall, but this is invariably washed away by the next high tide. How the houses escape is a mystery.