30 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



llth of September the sovereignty of Queen Victoria was in 

 the most formal manner acknowledged by Cacobau ; and his 

 Excellency's account of the ceremony by which he was, accord- 

 ing to the native ideas, invested as Vunl Falu, is so graphic 

 that I give it in extenso. 



Cacobau became a Christian in 1854, and is considered a 

 very devout member of the Wesleyan Church. He is above 

 the middle height, with white whiskers and moustache, not 

 unlike those of the German Emperor. His sons were educated 

 at Sydney, and speak English fluently, Eoko Timothy being an 

 exceptionally tall handsome man of noble carriage. Cacobau 

 receives a pension of 1500 a year from the British Govern- 

 ment, and was presented with a very smart sailing yacht. The 

 Eokos to whom the Governor alludes are the chiefs of the 

 provinces into which Fiji is divided. 



Sir Arthur's despatch is dated Nasova, Sept 20, 1875, and 

 addressed to the Earl of Carnarvon, at that time Secretary for 

 the Colonies : 



' Shortly after my arrival here, Cacobau (who has, on every 

 occasion since the cession, consistently shown the utmost 

 anxiety to confirm and strengthen the authority over the 

 natives of the Government by which his own has been 

 superseded) suggested that, after the public reading of my 

 commission, I should go through a ceremony which, he said, 

 rarely took place, but which had been performed at his own 

 inauguration as Vuni Valu, and which he assured me would 

 pledge all the chiefs and people to me as their feudal superior. 

 This ceremony, I found, consisted in drinking a bowl of angona 

 in the presence of the chiefs, whilst they saluted me with their 

 hands in the manner in which an inferior among the Fijians 

 salutes his chief when drinking. 



