76 A MISSION TO VITI. 



ceive these general sentiments to have taken hold of 

 the popular mind with such force, if the people had 

 always been divided into petty states as at present. 



Away from the capital and Cakobau, some of the Fijian 

 kinglets talk very boastfully of their total independence, 

 and wish you to believe the suzerainty of Bau merely 

 applies to certain inferior chieftains ; whilst the social 

 supremacy is seldom disputed, and the court dialect is 

 understood by all the chiefs, even those living in the 

 remotest parts of the group, and it has therefore very 

 properly been adopted by the Wesleyan missionaries in 

 their translation of the Bible. Each of these states or 

 principalities has its ambassador at Bau (Mataki Bail), 

 who, however, does not constantly reside in the capital, 

 but only when there is any business to transact, which 

 may occasionally last for weeks or months. On arriving 

 at Bau, he takes up his abode at the house of the Bauan 

 " minister," if he may be called so, charged with the 

 affairs of the district from which he comes as ambas- 

 sador, and he is by his host introduced to the King of 

 Fiji. When Bau has any business to transact abroad, 

 the ambassador selected is invariably the minister of 

 the affairs of the district to which he is sent, and his 

 place at the capital is temporarily filled by a relative. 

 The office of these diplomatic agents is hereditary in 

 certain families, and they are appointed by the ruling 

 chiefs. Title and office are quite as much valued as 

 they are in Europe by ourselves, human nature being 

 human nature all the world over. 



On the 28th of July, Mr. Pritchard and myself set 

 out in the consular gig for Navua, Viti Levu, to pay our 



