CHIEF KURUDUADUA. 99 



his guests ; and the chief eyed us askance as we ate. 

 About this time a carronade, that guarded the entrance 

 to the house, was discharged emphatically to demon- 

 strate the chief's delight. Kava, or "yaqpna^ as it 

 is called in Fiji, was masticated and drunk every half- 

 hour. We observed that the string by which the bowl 

 is suspended when not in use was always thrown towards 

 the chief. The object of this is to distinguish the 

 " great man," for if any one incautiously walked upright 

 in his presence, the club is his fate. 



Kuruduadua has ten wives, and as he himself does 

 not exactly know the number of his children, we were 

 left ignorant on that point. The great drums were 

 beaten every hour of the night, in honour of the guests, 

 but much to our annoyance, for they kept us awake 

 some time after we retired. Our bed was made of se- 

 veral layers of mats, and over us was a large mosquito 

 screen, about twenty feet long, made of the bark of the 

 paper mulberry. As many as eight or ten natives some- 

 times sleep together under one of these screens. Before 

 retiring, the Consul presented various articles, as knives, 

 axes, prints, etc., to the chief; and the usual compli- 

 mentary speeches, expressive of mutual confidence and 

 goodwill, ensued. 



On the following morning "Harry the Jew" pre- 

 sented himself the only Englishman who has lived 

 for any length of time in the wild and unknown regions 

 of the interior, and has managed to throw a halo of 

 mystery around himself. His real name is John Hum- 

 phrey Danford, and he has been for so many years 

 living with Kuruduadua and his family, cut off from all 



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