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CHAPTER VII. 



ARRIVAL OF COLONEL SMYTHE FROM NEW ZEALAND. THE ' PEGASUS ' 



AND ' PAUL JONES.' VISIT TO BAU. QUARRELSOME DISPOSITION OF 



THE CHIEF OF THE FISHERMEN. CESSION OF FIJI TO ENGLAND. 

 FIRST OFFICIAL INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 



THE native war in New Zealand continuing and keep- 

 ing all available naval force employed, Colonel Smythe 

 had been unable to obtain a Government vessel to 

 take him to and about Fiji, and had therefore been 

 compelled to charter the ' Pegasus,' an extremely slow- 

 sailing, ill-manned ketch, commanded by a gossiping 

 captain, who ultimately returned to New Zealand with- 

 out paying even the crew, which the British Consul 

 had been obliged to put on board. Mr. Pritchard and 

 myself called on Colonel Smythe on the 16th of July, 

 and regretted to hear of his long and stormy passage. 

 He had arrived on the 5th of July, and we found him 

 comfortably quartered at Levuka, in the house of Mr. 

 Binner. Mrs. Smythe was making a water-colour draw- 

 ing of the Levuka reef, which from Mr. Binner's house, 

 situated as it is on the top of a hill, displays itself in 

 all its grandeur, and together with the little islands at 

 a distance, and the shipping of the port, forms a pano- 

 rama not easily matched. 



The ' Pegasus ' not having accommodation for more 



