AMERICAN WHALE-SHIPS. 137 



his lifetime, he had accumulated a great number of 

 European and American manufactures, curious clocks, 

 musical boxes, etc., but on inquiry I found that all 

 these things had become scattered. His son would 

 ultimately succeed to the chieftainship, and was made a 

 great deal of by his people. At present the government 

 was in other hands. He was a comely-looking youth, 

 of a much lighter complexion than the rest of his 

 countrymen. 



The ' Pegasus ' being again late, Mr. Prit chard and I 

 started for Kadavu (Kandavu), the largest of the south- 

 ernmost islands of the group. Leaving Eewa road on 

 the 13th of August at six P.M., we made Tavuki Bay, 

 on the northern side of the island, at seven o'clock on 

 the following morning, where we took up our quarters 

 under the hospitable roof of Mr. Eoyce, one of the resi- 

 dent missionaries. In consequence of the strong south- 

 easterly gale, the temperature was very agreeable, and 

 during the previous week Mr. Royce observed the ther- 

 mometer to go down to 62 Fahrenheit, the lowest ever 

 observed in the group. 



There were three American whaleships in the bay, 

 taking in wood, water, and fresh provisions, commanded 

 by Captain James Nicols, Charles Nicols, and Thomas 

 Sulivan. They had been nearly all their lives in the 

 South Sea whaling trade, and were very well known to 

 Mr. Pritchard when he was at Samoa. Their business 

 had evidently been a lucrative one, and this was to be 

 one of their last, if not their last voyage. They had 

 hitherto taken in their supplies at Samoa or Tonga, 

 but the natives of those two groups had become so ex- 



