74 A MISSION TO vrri. 



tice to him, and he feels rather annoyed that Europeans 

 should think him as ugly as those representations make 

 him. His face expresses great shrewdness and good- 

 humour ; his bearing is very dignified on public occa- 

 sions ; and it was gratifying to see him at church be- 

 having in a manner that no reasonable man could find 

 the slightest fault with. 



The Queen of Fiji, to whom Cakobau has been mar- 

 ried according to Christian rites ever since he aban- 

 doned heathenism, is a rather stout, quiet woman, about 

 five feet two inches in height. I have only seen her 

 once dressed, and that at the time of our first official 

 interview about the cession. She then wore a neat 

 bonnet, latest Parisian fashion, a coloured silk dress, 

 and a black mantilla trimmed with lace. I need 

 scarcely add that the use of crinoline was not unknown 

 even in this remote quarter of the globe. The Queen, 

 at the interview alluded to, was rather bashful, owing 

 to a wish expressed by the Consul that she should sit 

 at her husband's side, instead of, as the rules of the 

 country demanded, behind him. However, she com- 

 ported herself very well indeed, but I daresay was very 

 glad to get her clothes off as soon as the official inter- 

 view was over. 



Cakobau calls himself " Tui Viti," or King of Fiji, 

 and has a perfect right to it. True Fiji is divided into 

 a number of petty states, yet all of them acknowledge 

 vassalage to Bau by paying either a direct tribute to it, 

 or being tributary to states so circumstanced. It is 

 highly probable, however, that at one time all Fijians 

 were under one head, and formed perhaps a more com- 



