PREFACE. 



IN 1859 Mr. W. T. Pritchard, H.B.M. Consul in Fiji, 

 son of the Rev. George Pritchard, formerly of Tahiti, 

 arrived in England with a document purporting to be 

 the cession of Fiji or rather Viti to the Queen of 

 Great Britain. The cession had been made by Cakobau 

 (= Thakombau), the principal chief of Bau and king 

 of the whole group, and with the consent of the lead- 

 ing chiefs. The importance of accepting the proffered 

 sovereignty was insisted upon by parties capable of 

 taking a comprehensive view of the question. The Le- 

 gislative Assembly of New South Wales, on the motion 

 of Mr. M' Arthur, voted an address to the Queen in sup- 

 port of this proposal. Captain Towns, a patriotic citizen 

 of Sydney, fully impressed, like many of his country- 

 men, with the importance of acquiring the islands, ge- 

 nerously offered a cheque for the whole Fijian debt, in 

 order to remove at least one of the possible obstacles 

 in the way of the cession. Nor is it any secret that the 

 occupation of the islands has been recommended by 

 Captains Fremantle, Denham, Erskine, and Loring, and 

 Admirals Washington* and Sir Edward Belcher; in 



* See Appendix. 



