race.
The Fijians were remarkable for their quick conversion to devout
Christianity. So late as 1870 cannibalism was general. Prisoners were
deliberately fattened to kill. The dead were even dug up when in such a
condition that only puddings could be made of them. Limbs were cut off
living victims and cooked in their presence; and even more horrible acts
were committed. The islands are volcanic, mountainous, and covered by
forests.

Our visit was about the time of the Balolo worm season. The Balolo worm
appears on the coast punctually twice a year, once in October (the
Little Balolo) and once about the 20th November (the Great Balolo). They
rise to the sea surface in writhing masses, only stay twelve hours and
are gone. The natives make a great feast of them. The worm measures 2
ins. to 2 ft. long, is thin as vermicelli and has many legs. Never is a
single worm seen at any other time.

Leaving Fiji, we passed the Isle of Pines, called at Brisbane, and
arrived at Sydney on the 25th November. Of the beauties and advantages
of Sydney Harbour we have all heard, and I can only endorse the glowing
descriptions of other writers. Hotels in Australia and New Zealand are
very poor, barring perhaps one in Sydney and a small one in Melbourne. A
great cricket match was "on"--Victoria versus New South Wales--so I must
needs go to see, not so much the game itself as the very famous club
ground, said to be the finest in the world. In the Botanical Gardens,
near a certain tree, the familiar, and I thought the unmistakable, odour
of a skunk was most perceptible. Hailing a gardener and drawing his
attention to it, he replied that the smell came from the tree ("malotus"
he called it), but the crushed leaves, the bark and the blossom
certainly gave no sign of it and I remained mystified. Fruit of many
kinds is cheap, abundant and good. Sydney is not a prohibition town! Far
from it. Drink conditions are as bad as in Scotland. Many of the people,
especially from the country, have a pure Cockney accent and drop their
h's freely; indeed I met boys and girls born in the colony, and never
out of it, whose Cockney pronunciation was quite comical. It struck me
that Australians and New Zealanders are certainly not noted for
strenuousness.

Of course the tourist must see the Blue Mountains, and my trip there was
enjoyable enough, I being greatly impressed with the Leura and other
waterfalls (not as falls) and the wonderful and beautiful caves of