28 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



our Tanna men; but we can hardly expect to escape 

 altogether.' 



With reference to this awful scourge, I cannot resist quoting 

 Mr. Layard's testimony to the gallantry of Mr. James Harding, 

 an officer of the Armed Constabulary of the late Government. 

 The mountains of Viti Levu, or Big Fiji, were the last refuge 

 of the cannibals. Although constantly warned by the Woods 

 Administration, they persisted in making murderous raids ; 

 and just before annexation an expedition under Mr. Harding, 

 and numbering only 210 armed natives, had signally defeated 

 some 3000 of the cannibals, who suffered immense loss. Mr. 

 Layard himself met the chiefs, and Mr. Thurston selected ten 

 of them to accompany the Europeans to Levuka, to show them 

 something of civilisation. During their visit they caught the 

 measles. Mr. Harding was among the mountains when they 

 returned, and here is the official record : 



' I fear we shall have sad accounts from the interior. Mr. 

 Harding reports from the centre of the mountains of Viti Levu 

 that all the chiefs who came down to Levuka at my invitation 

 have the disease, and that it is spreading rapidly. They 

 attribute it to poison and treachery. Mr. Harding, at the 

 imminent risk of his life, is remaining among them to endeavour 

 to restore confidence.' 



Whether the spread of the measles had anything to do with 

 the final cannibal outbreak of 1876 I do not know. 



Sir Arthur Gordon reached Levuka on the 24th of June, 

 1875, in Her Majesty's ship Pearl, and landed on the following 

 day at the Government offices at Nasova, a sort of suburb of 

 Levuka, where he afterwards resided. He was, of course, 

 received with viceregal honours, and the native troops were 



