PREFACE. 



Grace the Duke of Newcastle, ever ready to advance 

 science, fully sharing these hopes, made an application 

 to the Treasury to that effect, but was "very sorry to 

 inform me that his application had been unsuccessful." 

 Thinking what had been collected with so much ex- 

 pense, under great difficulties, and in a country only 

 partially reclaimed from cannibalism, was also worth 

 making known, I resolved to incur the risk of publish- 

 ing the work at my own cost. It will consist of 400 

 pages of letter-press (quarto), and 100 coloured plates, 

 all representing objects hitherto unknown to science, 

 and drawn by the skilful pencil of Mr. Fitch. The 

 work will take about three years to bring out, and its 

 publication will commence immediately. 



All the native names are spelt according to the sys- 

 tem of orthography laid down in Hazel wood's ' Fijian 

 Dictionary ' (London : Triibner and Co.), and wherever 

 any deviation should be discovered, it may be regarded 

 as a mistake of mine, unless particularly noticed. No- 

 thing but endless confusion will be the result if every 

 nation is allowed to write Fijian names according to its 

 own orthography. For the illustrations of my present 

 work I am indebted to Mrs. Smythe, Dr. Macdonald, 

 and Captain Denham, to whom I beg to tender my best 

 thanks, as well as to those friends who, since my de- 

 parture from Fiji, have kept me supplied with the 

 latest intelligence from that group. 



BERTHULD SEEMANN. 



London, September 30, 1862. 



