118 A MISSION TO VITI. 



village in a low valley in a great measure accounted for 

 .this. We were roving over the hills, when a message 

 from Ovalau reached us with the glad tidings that 

 Colonel Smythe had safely arrived in Levuka, and was 

 desirous of seeing us. 



Without loss of time we returned to Mr. Work's house, 

 left it after midnight, and reached Mataisuva at eight 

 o'clock in the morning, where we breakfasted with our 

 kind friend Mr. Moore. There had been some trouble 

 with the natives. An Englishman had run away with 

 the wife of a Viwa chief, and refused to give her up. 

 The chief, justly exasperated, threatened revenge, and 

 would have proceeded to extremities, if Mr. Moore had 

 not persuaded the Rewa chief, in whose territory the 

 eloped one resided, to step in, on the grounds that the 

 Viwa chief had no right to cause a disturbance on 

 territories not his own. They referred the case to Mr. 

 Pritchard, who remonstrated with the white man, tell- 

 ing him that if he, an Englishman, was clubbed in 

 consequence of the provocation given, no government 

 could possibly ask for satisfaction; and on the other 

 hand, that if no notice were taken of his murder, the 

 lives of the other whites would be in danger. So the 

 woman must instantly be given up. 



We had hoped to reach Lado that day, but the loss 

 of time caused by this troublesome man delayed our 

 departure until noon. We again passed through the 

 Rewa river and the Kele musu canal, and towards sun- 

 set reached Kaba, where we took up our quarters at the 

 house of Peter, a Tonguese teacher connected with the 

 Wesleyan mission. Pie was a fine specimen of his race, 



