270 A MISSION TO VITI. 



" Her Majesty's ship, under my command, sailed from Coro- 

 mandel harbour, east coast of New Zealand, on the 8th July, and 

 arrived at Levuka harbour, island of Ovalau, on the 15th, after 

 a favourable passage made under sail. Having been informed 

 by Mr. Pritchard that the trade in beche-de-mer on the north- 

 west coast of Vanua Levu was entirely stopped in consequence 

 of a war which was being carried on there between two rival 

 chiefs, one of whom was supported by a body of Tongans, 

 whose usual residence is on Lakeba, one of the windward is- 

 lands, I decided on endeavouring to put a stop to a state of 

 affairs so prejudicial to British interests ; and in order that my 

 measures should be backed by the highest native authority in 

 Fiji, I requested Mr. Pritchard to propose to Cakobau and 

 Maafu to accompany me to the Macuata district in the ' Pelorus.' 

 This, after a little diplomatic shuffling, they consented to do; 

 and having received them, Mr. Pritchard, and the consular in- 

 terpreter, on board, we left Levuka on the morning of the 18th, 

 entering the great reef which encircles Vanua Levu by a pass 

 a little to the northward of the Nadi passage, after which our 

 course lay through a very intricate channel formed by sunken 

 reefs and patches, of which no regular survey exists, but 

 through which we were piloted in the most able manner by one 

 of the English residents afc Ovalau (Christopher Carr), the 

 owner of a small beche-de-mer trader. Under his direction we 

 reached anchorage off Levuta, about twenty miles from our desti- 

 nation, Macuata, that evening; and the following morning, having 

 weighed as soon as the sun was sufficiently high to enable us 

 to distinguish the shoals, we anchored in Naduri Harbour, 

 Macuata Bay, about 1500 yards from where some houses were 

 visible on the beach. 



ff On sending on shore to ascertain the state of affairs, we 

 found, as I had anticipated would be the case, that the com- 

 bined force of the Tongans and Fijians had driven their oppo- 

 nents off the mainland, and that the latter had taken refuge on 

 Kia Island, about ten miles from our anchorage. Since their 

 expulsion their enemies had committed great havoc amongst 

 their plantations, had destroyed nearly all the large canoes, 



