194 



Message sent to King Tanoa. Town of 

 Levuka. Peak of Andulong. 



OVOLAU. 



Observatory established. 



than were found there. I at once engaged them 

 to become our interpreters during the time we 

 stayed, which afforded us many advantages in 

 communicating with the natives. 



About three hours after the Vincennes anchored, 

 the Peacock entered ; but there was no news or 

 sign of the Flying-Fish, nor had she been seen 

 while the Peacock was in the offing. I felt much 

 uneasiness about her, more so on account of the 

 inexperienced officer who had her in temporary 

 charge. 



I directed the chief, Tui Levuka, to send a 

 message immediately to Ambau, to inform King 

 Tanoa of my arrival, and desire him to visit me. 

 This was at once assuming authority over him, 

 and after the fashion (as I understood) of the 

 country ; but it was doubted by some whether he 

 would come, as he was old, and a powerful chief. 

 I thought the experiment was worth trying, as, in 

 case he obeyed, it would be considered that he 

 acknowledged me as his superior, which I thought 

 might be beneficial in case of any difficulty occur- 

 ring during our stay ; I believed, moreover, that it 

 would add greatly to the respect which the natives 

 would hold us in. 



The town of Levuka contains about forty houses; 

 it is situated on the east side of the island of Ovo- 

 lau, in a quiet and peaceful valley, surrounded by a 

 dense grove o\ cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees, 

 with a fine stream of fresh and pure water running 

 through it to the beach; high, broken, volcanic 

 peaks rise to the west, forming the background. 



The frames of the houses are built of the bread- 

 fruit tree, and are filled in with reeds, whilst the 

 roof is covered with a thatch of the wild sugar- 

 cane. They are usually oblong in shape, and from 

 twenty to twenty-five feet in length by fifteen in 

 breadth. 



The most conspicuous and remarkable structure 

 is the bure, or spirit-house, which is built on a 

 raised and walled mound : lits proportions are 

 exceedingly uncouth, being nearly twice as high as 

 it is broad at its base, and forming a singular, 

 sharp-peaked roof ; the piece of timber serving for 

 the ridge-pole, projects three or four feet at each 

 end, is covered with numbers of white shells 

 (ovula cyprsea), and has two long poles or spears 

 crossing it at right angles. At the termination of 

 the thatching, the roofs of all the houses are about 

 a foot thick, and project eighteen inches or two feet, 

 forming eaves, which secure them from the wet. 

 For the most part they have two doors, and a fire- 

 place in the centre, composed of a few stones. The 

 furniture consists of a few boxes, mats, several 

 large clay jars, and many drinking vessels, the 

 manufacture of pottery being extensively carried 

 on by them. The sleeping-place is generally 

 screened off, and raised about a foot above the 

 other part of the floor. 



Having settled definitively the mode of operation 

 I intended to pursue in surveying the group, I was 

 desirous of fixing some of the main points in my 

 own mind, as well as in that of the officers, and 

 therefore ordered a large party from each ship to be 

 prepared to accompany me on the following morn- 

 ing, to one of the high peaks of the island, called 

 Andulong, taking with us the barometers, &c., for 

 measuring its altitude. I likewise issued an order, 

 directing officers who left the ship for any purpose 

 to be armed ; being well satisfied that every pre- 



caution ought to be taken, in order to prevent sur- 

 prise in any shape ; I also impressed upon all the 

 necessity of circumspection, and of keeping them- 

 selves on their guard, which, as I learnt from the 

 few incidents related to me by Whippy and others, 

 was highly necessary ; orders were also given to 

 prepare the boats of both ships for surveying 

 duties. 



I understood that about forty whites had taken 

 up their residence here ; but we only found twelve, 

 who were all married to native women, and gene- 

 rally had large families. 



We found lying at anchor here a small sloop, 

 about the size of a long-boat, called " Who'd have 

 thought it !" a tender to the ship Leonidas, Cap- 

 tain Eagleston, who was at another island curing 

 the biche-de-mar ; she was in charge of his first 

 officer, Mr. Winn, who had been about trading for 

 tortoise-shell at the different islands. He reported 

 to me that one of his men had been enticed from 

 the boat, and had been murdered, and probably 

 eaten : this was said to have occurred near Mu- 

 thuata, on the north side of Vanua-levu. It ap- 

 peared that Mr. Winn, with only four or five men, 

 had been trading in this small boat, for vessel she 

 could not be called, around the group ; they had 

 with them a small skiff or punt, capable of holding 

 only one man. In this one of the crew had been 

 sent on shore, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 whether the natives had any thing to dispose of. 

 On his landing, he was led up from the beach, 

 and never returned. This incident claimed our 

 attention afterwards, and our proceedings in re- 

 lation to it will be spoken of in their proper 

 place. 



On the morning of the 9th, the weather proved 

 fine, and at half-past seven we all went on shore 

 with our instruments. Orders were left with the 

 ship to fire guns, on a signal being given from the 

 top of Andulong. I put up both of the barometers, 

 and made several comparisons, and then left one 

 under charge of an officer to make half-hourly 

 observations. We set off for the peak of Andu- 

 long, apparently but a short hour's walk. Our 

 party consisted of about twenty-five officers and 

 the naturalists, all intent upon their different 

 branches of . duty. Being entii-ely unused to so 

 fatiguing a climb, some gave up, and were obliged 

 to return ; the strongest of us found no little exer- 

 tion necessary to overcome the difficulties which 

 beset our path : every now and then a perpendi- 

 cular rise of fifteen or twenty feet was to be as- 

 cended, then a narrow ridge to be crossed, and again 

 a descent into a deep ravine; the whole was clothed 

 with vines at intervals, and the walking was very 

 precarious, from the numbers of roots and slippery 

 mud we encountered ; water continually bubbled 

 across our path from numerous rills that were 

 hurrying headlong down the ravines. The last part 

 of the ascent was sharp and steep, having preci- 

 pices of several hundreds of feet on each side of 

 us. On passing up the path, I saw our native 

 guides each pull a leaf when they came to a spot, 

 and throw it down ; on inquiry, Whippy told me 

 it was the place where a man had been clubbed : 

 this was considered as an offering of respect to 

 him, and, if not performed, they have a notion 

 they will soon be killed themselves. Judging from 

 the number of places in which these atonements 

 were made, many victims have suffered in this 



