PREFACE. 
Waen, in 1860, the British Government determined upon sending a mission of inquiry to 
Viti, it was at first their intention to make it a strictly political one; but on the repre- 
sentation of the late Sir William J. Hooker (who took a warm interest in the vegetation of 
the group) that it would be highly desirable to attach a botanist to it, the Colonial Office 
agreed to give a free passage to the islands and a sum of money (though quite inadequate 
to provide outfit, travelling expenses, and maintenance in the group) to any scientific man 
willing to go under such circumstances. Though the acceptance of this involved, as inti- 
mated, a pecuniary loss which it was then hoped would be covered by the sale of duplicate 
specimens, yet I gratefully accepted a proposal which offered an opportunity of exploring 
so little known a part of the world; and on the 10th of February, 1860, one of the Under- 
Secretaries of State for the Colonies wrote to me :—“ I am directed by the Duke of New- 
castle to acquaint you that, adverting to your known experiences and labours as a naturalist, 
His Grace is willing to accept yeu services to proceed in that capacity to the Fiji Islands, 
_attached to the mission of inquiry.” 
Sir William Hooker, when first writing to me about the subject, said —“ You might 
provide materials for a ‘Flora Vitiensis,’ and I do not doubt of getting money to enable 
you to carry out the publication ;” and that he had grounds for holding out this hope was 
. proved by what I subsequently learnt at the Colonial Office. It was therefore an extreme 
disappointment to me when, after my return in 1861, with a large collection of plants, and 
when my official report * On the Resources and Vegetable Productions of the Vitian Islands" 
had been presented to Parliament by command of Her Majesty, and the nature and pos- 
sible value of the projected publication was evident, I found that the Government did not 
see fit to assist me in bringing out such a work. Sir William Hooker did all he could 
to urge the matter, and His Grace the late Duke of Newcastle made an application to 
the Treasury to that effect, “but was sorry to inform me that his application had been 
a 
