472 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL 



foruian goldfields. Almost at the same date as this 

 settlement, namely, about 1835, the Wesleyan mission- 

 aries began work in the islands, aided by Tongan 

 teachers. The Tongan power had always been dreaded 

 by the Fijians, and had made considerable conquests 

 in the group, and the missionaries, taking the former 

 people as their allies, were able to make the abolition of 

 cannibalism and the adoption of Christianity compulsory 

 on the natives who fell under Tongan rule. 



In 1859 King Thakombau, who, in consequence of 

 some alleged injuries inflicted upon an American sul)ject, 

 had been fined a sum of £9000 by that nation, formally 

 offered to cede the islands to Great Britain at the price 

 of the settlement of this claim, but the offer was not 

 accepted, and Fiji remained for some years in an un- 

 settled state as regards its government, an attempt 

 at a Constitution in 1871, which vested almost all 

 the power in the hands of the European planters and 

 traders, having failed. In 1874 Mr. Layard and 

 Commodore Goodenough were sent to report upon the 

 advisability of annexation, and as a result the islands 

 were unconditionally ceded by Thakombau to Great 

 Britain on the 30 th September of that year. The 

 little island of Eotuma, about 300 miles north of 

 Fiji, was annexed by the British in 1880. 



3. Geology and Climate. 



The formation of the group appears to be almost purely 

 volcanic, and everywhere tuffs and basalts, both compact 

 and scoriaceous, give evidence of past eruptive action. 

 At the present time, however, there are no active 

 volcanoes, although extinct craters are numerous, as 

 in Kandavu, the Einggold Islands, and others. The 



