THE FIJI ISLANDS 471 



2. History. 



Fiji was a discovery of the Dutch, Tasman having 

 passed through the group from east to west in the 

 celebrated voyage in which he made himself famous 

 by the still greater discoveries of Tasmania and jSTew 

 Zealand. From this date — 1643 — the islands remained 

 practically unvisited for more than a century and a half. 

 Cook anchored off the outlying and southernmost island 

 in 1773, but only for a single night, and Bligh passed 

 the group in 1789 while on his memorable boat-voyage 

 to Timor after the mutiny. Dumont d'Urville was the 

 first to make, in 1827, a detailed reconnaissance of the 

 archipelago, and he was succeeded in 1840 by the 

 American Exploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes, 

 who made a tolerably complete survey. Since then 

 Sir E. Belcher and other English naval officers have 

 filled in the necessary hydrographical details, and land- 

 surveys of the principal islands have been carried out 

 by Government surveyors. 



Early in the present century a number of escaped 

 convicts from New South Wales established themselves 

 on Viti, and being men of reckless character and pro- 

 vided with firearms, managed to acquire a considerable 

 •amount of power among the murderous cannibals by 

 whom they were surrounded. Partly through their 

 assistance, it came to be recognised that a lucrative, 

 if somewhat dangerous, trade was possible to the 

 adventurous, and schooners soon visited the archipelago 

 in some numbers to obtain heche-de-mer, sandal -wood, 

 and other products. A few years later a small colony 

 of Australians of a rather more reputable character 

 settled in Levuka, and received fresh additions from 

 time to time, especially on the waning of the Call- 



