educated, and accordingly spent three years at the university
there. There was no topic of general interest on which he did
not possess a fair amount of knowledge. He wore his hair in
the fashion of the country, i.e. in a mop frizzled out to an immense
size, and in other respects he was got up as a native chief of
distinction. He spoke favourably of British rule, although, as
vve were otherwise informed, he himself had recently acquired a
practical experience of the unpleasant consequences attending the
commission of an indictable offence, in having to undergo a
sentence of three months’ hard labour.
On the 25th of September a party of us made an excursion in
one of the ship’s steam-cutters to Bau, the old native capital of
the Fiji Group. We started from Levuka harbour at nine o’clock
in the morning, accompanied by our friend the Ratu Joe, who
most kindly and hospitably volunteered to pilot us over, and to
entertain us in his hut at Bau.
We steamed along in smooth water inside the barrier reef
which protects the S. L. side of Ovalau for about three miles,
when we passed out into the open sea through a narrow opening
in the reef. We then steamed for about five miles through deep
water, until we entered an intricate system of channels which
wind among the submerged reefs extending across the Strait
between Ovalau and Viti Levu. The distance from Levuka to
Bau is about twenty-four miles, and after a pleasant passage of
five hours we reached our destination and anchored the boat in
smooth water at about forty yards from the shore. After deposit-
ing our baggage in Joe’s hut, we went in a body to pay our
respects to King Cacobau the “Vunivalu” (kingly title meaning
the “ Root of W a r ”), to whom we were formally introduced
by Joe, the latter also acting as interpreter, for Cacobau does not
speak Lnglish at all. We were received in a small smoky hut, in
which the aged monarch spends most of his time during this, the
cold, season of Fiji. He seemed to be a feeble old man, aged
about seventy, and almost entirely blind, yet evidently possessing