70 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



shoot you, but you put a revolver bullet through my hand ' 

 (showing the wound). ' My brother shot you in the breast, 

 and then you shot him with your dakai lekaleka ' (little gun) 

 'between the eyes. I think that the Qaga men who were 

 fighting with you ate him.' Then said another to J. H., 

 ' We nearly caught you and another white man at Koroimuqo ; 

 you killed my uncle, but my cousin put a bullet through your 

 shirt. We got one of the soldiers, a big red man, and we sent 

 his body ' (this with an air of virtuous self-denial) ' as a present 

 to Wawabalavu, chief of Nibutautau, who ate the best joints 

 of him.' Again, 'We heard before that you were a vudiwdi' 

 (one made impenetrable), ' but were not certain until that day 

 at Naculi, when many of us tried hard to kill you. I was with 

 the Nibutautau people in the ambuscade on the hill, and I 

 killed one white man who had a long beard ' (poor Gresham !} 

 'and wore dark trousers. It was always necessary for one 

 side to run, and, as you whites wouldn't, of course we had to.' 

 During a ten days' detention with others of his quondam 

 enemies, Mr. Harding told me he had long conversations upon 

 divers subjects, and had to answer numberless questions quaint 

 and pertinent. The principal were as to the relative values, 

 advantages, and strengths of the past and present Govern- 

 ments, to which there was, of course, but one reply. And as 

 to Her Majesty : ' Was the Marama levu, or great lady, really 

 so anxious as was said for the welfare of the people 1 What 

 was the name of my town ? Ah yes ! They had heard of 

 London; it was an enormous city indeed. They had heard 

 from a Fijian who had been there that the fowls all laid their 

 eggs simultaneously early every morning, so that the ground 

 between the houses was covered with them, and you could 

 hardly hear anything for the cackling. Then at breakfast- 

 time a Mi ' (drum) ' was beaten, and the cooks, with one accord, 



