106 A MISSION TO VITI. 



by a chief then at war with him. Long after peace 

 had been re-established Kuruduadua became by ex- 

 change the owner of some boxes that had been taken 

 from JSTamuka, by the attacking party. Danford saw the 

 danger of purchasing property thus taken, and advised 

 Kuraduadua to get rid of it. However, his counsels 

 were unheeded, and when at a future time the boxes were 

 actually found in Kuruduadua's possession, the Ame- 

 rican captain sent to punish the Namuka attack, fixed 

 upon him, as one of the guilty party, and burned Navua, 

 then full of valuable property of all sorts, honestly 

 acquired from white traders. Several large 32-pound 

 shots were knocking about the town, and served the 

 children as playthings, whilst the ruins of fine large 

 houses were still to be seen. Kuruduadua handed us 

 a paper from his desk, drawn up by a white trader 

 familiar with the whole affair, which he begged might 

 be made known to our countrymen, in order to acquaint 

 them with the real facts of the case. 



" OYALAU, November 27th, 1856. 



' ' Being acquainted with many circumstances connected with 

 the attack upon Namuka, and convinced that great injustice 

 has been done to the chief Kuruduadua, living at Navua, by 

 his being punished as an accessory to that act, I beg to lay 

 before you the true particulars of the case as they came under 

 my observation. 



" It has been stated that Kuruduadua was a party to the attack 

 upon Namuka, because some of his people had been some time 

 before driven away from that place by the whites. The facts 

 were these : Some canoes belonging to Kuruduadua's tribe, 

 as was their custom when voyaging, put into Namuka to spend 



