1 8 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



within, or (7) it may so unite to the f ringing-reef that the 

 channel between will hardly float a canoe. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE CESSION OF FIJI. 



THE first known European who mentions Fiji is the Dutch 

 navigator Tasman, who in 1643 passed between the islands of 

 Taviuni and Kaimea, and the straits to this day bear his name. 

 He christened the group Prince William's Islands. Captains 

 Cook, Bligh, and Wilson are among the early discoverers who 

 mention the group. 



Colonel Smythe, of the Royal Artillery, was despatched in 

 1860 to report on a proffered cession to this country, and his 

 account was very unfavourable to its acceptance by Great 

 Britain. But since that date fuller information reached those 

 interested in the distant Archipelago. In 1860 there were forty 

 tribes all more or less independent, but only twelve chieftains 

 possessed any real power. The head of these, Cacobau, chief 

 of Bau, called himself Tui Viti, or King of Viti (the leeward 

 portion of the group), but his claim was never admitted by the 

 chieftains of the Windward Islands. 



Dr. Seeman, who visited Fiji in company with Colonel 

 Smythe, was of opinion that Cacobau had a perfect right to 

 the title, as tributes more or less direct were paid to the chief 

 of Bau. He further concluded that at one time Fiji was a 

 powerful homogeneous kingdom, and adds : ' The hypothesis 

 advanced derives additional strength from the fact of all Fijians, 

 though scattered over a group of more than two hundred diffe- 

 rent islands, speaking one language, having a powerfully deve- 



