242 A MISSION TO VITI. 



Hebrides. A brother of the late King Josiah, Maafu, engaged 

 with the leader of the expedition (Henry) to furnish sixty men. 

 They touched at Lakeba to reinforce their numbers, but could 

 not procure volunteers, and continued their course to Eromango. 

 Here the party, armed with muskets, were landed, and a quan- 

 tity of sandal-wood cut and embarked. The natives continued 

 friendly for the first few days, but at the end of that time, some 

 of them having stolen three axes, a disturbance took place, when 

 one of the supposed thieves was shot by the Tongans. The fire 

 was returned by arrows, which wounded a Tongan, who after- 

 wards died. In consequence of this affray they left Eromango, 

 and proceeded to Vate, or Sandwich Island, where he and his 

 men were again landed, armed, and directed to cut wood, the 

 white men remaining on board of their vessels. Before long 

 they had a battle with the natives, who, having no muskets, 

 were defeated with a loss of twenty-six killed, none of the in- 

 truders being injured. A fort was afterwards stormed and 

 taken, when several more were killed ; the remainder retreating 

 to an island, where they hid themselves in a cave, whither they 

 were pursued by Maafu and his party. After firing into the 

 cave, which seemed to have no effect, the besiegers, pulling 

 down some neighbouring houses, piled the materials in a heap 

 at its mouth, and, setting fire to it, suffocated them all."* 



King George, the present ruler of Tongaf , having 

 subdued a rebellion in which Maafu took a prominent 

 part, deemed it prudent to send Maafu to Fiji, osten- 

 sibly for the purpose of keeping his countrymen in 

 order, but really to get him out of the way. At the 

 Same time a hint, perhaps more than a hint, was thrown 

 out that no objections would be made if Maafu did 

 in Fiji what King George had done in Tonga, make 

 himself master of the whole group. Maafu's first ex- 



* Eskine, ' Western Pacific,' p. 143. Behaving, in fact, as barbarously to 

 them as a few years later a French General did to an Algerian tribe, 

 t Farmer's ' Tonga and the Friendly Islands,' p. 398. 



