We had plenty of fish,
both salt and fresh water, and the mountain streams were full of
large fish, which Ratu Lala, who is a keen fisherman, caught with
the fly or grasshoppers.
He sometimes caught over one hundred in
a day, some of them over three pounds in weight. The streams were
also full of huge eels and large prawns, and a kind of oyster was
abundant in the sea, so what with wild pig, wild chickens, pigeons,
turtles, oysters, prawns, crabs, eels, and fish of infinite variety,
we fared exceedingly well. Oranges, lemons, limes, large shaddocks,
"kavika," and other wild fruits were plentiful everywhere.
During my stay here in August and September the climate was delightful,
and it was remarkably cool for the tropics. I often accompanied Ratu
Lala on his fishing excursions, and he would often recount to me
many of his escapades. On one occasion he told me that he had put
a fish-hook through the lip of his jester, a little old man of the
name of Stivani, and played him about with rod and reel like a fish,
and had made him swim about in the water until he had tired him out,
and then he added, "I landed the finest fish I ever got."
I added a good many interesting birds to my collection during my
stay here, among them a dove of intense orange colour, one of the
most striking birds I have ever seen. Plant life here was exceedingly
beautiful and interesting, especially high up in the mountains, palms,
PANDANUS, cycads, crotons, ACALYPHAS, LORANTHS, aroids, FREYCINETIAS,
ferns and orchids being strongly represented, and among the latter
may be mentioned a fine orange DENDROBIUM and a pink CALANTHE.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 20 of 217
Words from 5417 to 5707
of 59060
