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Fiji and the Fijians 1835-1856

Chapter IV — the archipelago

page 31

Chapter IV
the archipelago

Let us now, with the chart spread out before us, make a brief study of the archipelago with special reference to some of the towns and districts that concern us more intimately in this book.

When Kingsford Smith and his courageous companions landed at Suva in the course of their flight across the Pacific there were the usual festivities appropriate to a great occasion. One of the speakers at a dinner in the evening, wishing to pay a compliment to the navigator, described Fiji as a speck in the middle of the vast ocean. Under the circumstances that may easily be pardoned; but in justice to the discoverers, charters and early missionaries, it is necessary to point out that the Fijian Archipelago extends from Thikombia-i-ra in the north to Ono-i-lau in the south, and from the Mbukatatanoa or Argo Reef on the east to the Yasawas on the west; or between the parallels 15° 40' S. and 21° S., and the meridians 178° 10' W. to 176° 50' E. In other words it extends over an area 300 miles long and about the same distance broad. That is rather an expansive "speck." Moreover one of these islands, Viti Levu, has an area of 4053 square miles, and another, Vanua Levu, 2130. The area of the whole group is 7070 square miles; so that these two islands have an area five times as great as all the other islands of the archipelago put together. This is a fact worth remembering in considering the movements and policy of the early missionaries. The number of islands in the archi-page 32pelago has been variously estimated at from one hundred and fifty to two hundred; but it all depends on the definition of an island as distinct from a rock, sandbank and partly submerged reef.

The islands fall into three sufficiently well-defined groups. The Lau or Windward group extends from Ngele Levu on the north to Ono-i-lau on the south. Nearly all of these are comparatively low islands: Wailangilala is only a few feet above the level of the sea; Lakemba, the highest, is 600 to 700 feet; some are volcanic; but this group contains a greater number of limestone islands than any other. Lau was visited by Tongans for purposes of trade, canoebuilding and fighting for more than a century—it may be several centuries—before the first white missionaries arrived at Lakemba. It is important to remember this in studying the history of the missions: Cross and Cargill could make themselves understood in Lakemba immediately on their arrival, not only because there were Tongan settlements in Tumbou, the principal port, but also because many of the Fijians could speak the language of Tonga whence the missionaries had come; Tuinayau, the king, spoke Tongan as freely as Fijian. The vocabulary and grammar of the language spoken in Lau bore traces of Tongan influence, and the customs of the people were modified to some extent by their intercourse with Tongans: there was much less cannibalism, strangling of widows and burying people alive there than in the Leeward Islands to the west.

The Ra or Leeward group extends from Thikombia-i-ra to Kandavu, and includes all the large islands of the archipelago. They are nearly all volcanic, and in them were to be found the most densely populated districts of Fiji especially along the banks of the Rewa, Mba, Singatoka and Nandronga rivers, and on the middle section of the east coast of Viti Levu including Ovalau Island. But there were page break
WailangilalaA coralliferous limestone island in the Windward Group

Wailangilala
A coralliferous limestone island in the Windward Group

Thombia IslandThe most perfect crater in the Fijian Archipelago

Thombia Island
The most perfect crater in the Fijian Archipelago

page 33settlements all along the extended coasts of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Taviuni, which lies to the north between the extremities of the Lau and Ra groups, is a lofty compact mass whose summit is generally wrapped in dense cloud.1 Geographically it belongs to the Leeward rather than the Windward group. Its Thakaundrovi king with his headquarters at Somosomo, was one of the most powerful in Fiji though tributary to some extent to Mbau.

The Middle group consists of Moala, Totoya and Matuku which lie to the southward between the Windward and Leeward groups. Geographically Ngau, Nairai, Mbatiki, Wakaya, Koro and Makongai belong to this group; but for historical and political purposes it is better to include them in the Ra or Leeward group. Moala, Totoya and Matuku are fertile islands and exceedingly picturesque. I know nothing more beautiful in Fiji than the views one gets of sea and land from the hill-top on the steep and narrow way that leads from Matuku Bay on the west to Ngillikarua on the east of Matuku—unless it be the panoramic scene from the reservoir on the heights above Suva, from which toward the south the line of white foam may be seen stretching for miles along the surface of the outer reef, and the sharp jagged peaks of razor-backed ranges towering up far away to the west beyond the densely wooded slopes of the valley immediately below. But there is a difference: in the view from the heights round Suva there is a touch of grandeur; the views in Matuku are picturesque, and, when the light is shining from the right quarter, entrancing and even enchanting.

Perhaps it is invidious to select any islands of the Leeward or Middle groups for special appreciation. They are all very beautiful, and so much depends on the traveller's page 34feelings at the time of visiting any one of them. There is not one island in the Fijian Archipelago that is not rich in scenes of surpassing loveliness: the rainbow colours that adorn the reefs or hover and quiver about the spray that dashes over them; sub-aqueous gardens in which multicoloured plants grow round patches of branching coral; flowering trees and shrubs gorgeous with the most vivid colours; mountain torrents with their sparkling waters rushing and swirling round dark grey boulders; dense forests where creepers hang like garlands from tree to tree whose branches are decked with orchids; limestone crags and hills through which subterranean streams cut their way past stalagmites and stalactites; places silent and aware—haunted with memories of crimes in days gone by—all or nearly all these can be seen in every island of the archipelago. There is romance everywhere in Fiji, witchery and enchantment too.

If the student will spend half an hour looking at the chart of Fiji he will probably get the impression, if not the conviction, that these scattered islands strewn about the sea were once the most elevated portions of a single continent. Some of them, such as Thombia in the north and Totoya in the south, are mere craters with a portion of the rim worn down below sea-level. Nearly all the middle islands—Koro, Nairai, Ngau, Moala and Matuku—look like the summits of mountain ranges that have sunk deep into the sea. The submarine plateau to the south of Solevu and Nandy bays suggests that not very long ago Vanua Levu was connected with Makongai and Wakaya, and at a time anterior to that with Ovalau and Viti Levu. There is shallow water full of coral patches between western Viti Levu and the Yasawas, and then immediately west the deep blue Pacific. Follow the chart carefully from the eastern end of Vanua Levu past Taviuni, Ngamia, Lauthala and all the reefs and islets imme-page 35diately to the north of them; thence let the eye run down the Lau group to Vatoa-does it not look as though there were once continuous land from Vanua Levu to Vatoa, and that it has sunk and left only the higher portions exposed?

The theory of subsidence is associated with the name of Charles Darwin, and as an explanation of the archipelago viewed as a whole it seems to hold the field. But it cannot stand alone. It will not take the unbiased student long to detect plenty of evidence in support of the theories advanced by Professor Agassiz. He contended that what we see on closer view in many of the islands, especially the smaller ones, is the result of detrition and denudation—a constant wearing down and away by the action of prevailing winds, hurricanes and rushing, swirling waters on sea and land, till nothing is left above water in some places but a rock or sand patch. Look, for instance, at Solo rock on the north of Astrolabe Reef, and think of its lonesome position inside a reef which stretches leagues away to the south before another island or rock appears above the surface of the wide and comparatively shallow lagoon. Has not all the rest of this land inside the reefs been worn away by the swirling motion of the water that tumbles in millions of tons into the lagoon across the reef? Look next at those small islands little more than rocks left inside extensive reefs between Lakemba and Vanua Mbalavu. Wailangilala farther to the north is little more than a sand patch on the northern end of an encircling reef that stretches miles away to the south.

It will not be difficult for the reader to pick out islands in every stage of wearing, from solid and compacted Koro which is only partially surrounded by reef, and that not far from the shore, to Thakau Vuthovutho and Thakau Matathuthu to the north of Nanuku where there is no land left above the water at all.

But if he cares to inquire further the observer will find page 36that in some parts of the archipelago land has risen, not subsided, or else risen after it has subsided, mainly through volcanic action by which the basaltic rocks have been forced through the limestone.

But this is not my subject and I am getting beyond my depth. It would seem that there is evidence enough in Fiji to support the contentions of both Darwin and Professor Agassiz. What is needed is an up-to-date book by some welltrained geologist who will spend years investigating local and general problems in Fiji, and will be prepared to make experiments in boring in different parts of the archipelago such as Professor Agassiz started in Wailangilala but did not carry on to a satisfactory conclusion.

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Positions of Rewa, Mbau, Vewa, Levuka and Kamba As shown on a modern British chart

Positions of Rewa, Mbau, Vewa, Levuka and Kamba As shown on a modern British chart

1 According to the measurements taken by Captain Wilkes, the height of the central ridge is 2052 feet above sea-level