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London Missionary Society, who send at long intervals a missionary
clergyman to inspect the settlement, and confer with
their delegate, the native missionary.
The natural products are very limited, consisting solely of
cocoanuts and fish. The latter commodity abounds. Pearl shell
is obtained, but not in sufficient quantities to be an article of
commerce.
Adam Mayne told us that sliarks were very numerous, and
were caught with the hook and line; but no case had ever
occurred of a native being injured by them, although they were
accustomed to swim in the open sea outside the reef, a fact of
which we ourselves had ocular proof A t the same time, curiously
enough, many instances had occurred at the Windward Islands,
Nukunono and Lakaata, of natives being taken down by sharks.
Turtle are ocasionally caught, and of these the shell of the carapace
is used for making hooks for fishing, which native-made hooks
are, by-the-bye, preferred to our Lnglish ones. Indeed, they say
that the fish will not take our metal hooks at all.
On the afternoon of the same day (September 4th) we again
got under way, and continued on our course to the westward,
fixing the positions of islands and taking negative soundings
frequently. On the 13th of September we obtained soundings
on the Lalla Rookh bank in latitude 13° 5' S., longitude 175° 26'
W., the depth ranging from twelve to seventeen fathoms. With
the snap-lead a sample of the bottom was brought up, consisting
of a lump of dead coral incrusted with red nullipores, and riddled
in all directions by the borings of annelids.
T
C H A P T E R V I I I .
F I J I A N D TO N G A .
'H L harbour of Levuka, in which we anchored on the I 8th of
September, is situated on the north-east side of the island
of Ovalau, and from its central position in the Piji Group has for
several years been the principal seat of commercial activity and
the favourite anchorage for men-of-war. Since the annexation in
1875, Levuka has been the scat of government for the colony,
and the official residence of the High Commissioner for the Pacific.
During our stay in harbour the ship was refitted and reprovisioned,
and our boats were occupied in making some additions to the
survey of the port.
A few days after our arrival I received a visit from the youngest
son of the redoubted King Cacobau, a fine-looking man, twenty-
three years old, whose proper designation is the “ Ratu Joseph
Celua” (“ Ratu” meaning prince), but who is more generally
known in Piji as “ Ratu Joe.” It seems that soon after we had
anchored, he came on board accompanied by some other native
sight-seers, and as I had then shown him some slight civility,
he now came to express his gratitude by presenting me with a
large mat, made from the split leaves of the screw-pine. He
surprised us ail by speaking exceedingly good Lnglish, and
possessing an intimate knowledge of the ways and mianners of
civilized life. It appears that when Liji was ceded to Great
Britain in 1875, he was taken to Sydney, in H.M.S. Dido, to be
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