The king signs the rules and 

 regulations. 



PVT?TT7T? r"TinTT-D Arrival of Paddy Connel. Tlie king's 

 FEEJEE GROUP. house. His mode of eating. 



of countenance, and much dignity. His intellect 

 is not as quick as that of his brother, Mr. Phillips; 

 and his manner was cold and repulsive. He was 

 without any attendants of high rank. Ngaranin- 

 giou shortly afterwards made his appearance, ac- 

 companied by six chiefs, and a retinue of thirty or 

 forty men, forming a singular contrast to the un- 

 assuming appearance of the suite of the king. 

 Another of the party was a chief of high rank, 

 called Vunivalu, " Root of war :" he is a descen- 

 dant of the royal family that were dethroned by 

 Kama. His position gives him great influence, 

 and, in case of war, the operations are confided to 

 him. This chief bears, among the foreigners, the 

 title of governor. 



Ngaraningiou is equally tall with his eldest 

 brother, the king, and better and more gracefully 

 formed. He may be considered a good specimen 

 of a Feejee man of high rank and fashion; indeed, 

 his deportment struck the officers as quite distin- 

 guished: he has, withal, the appearance of a roue, 

 and his conduct does not belie the indications, and 

 he is considered by all, both natives and white 

 residents, as a dangerous man. The young chiefs 

 who were his companions, resembled him in cha- 

 racter and manners. They were all shown over 

 the ship, and every thing exhibited that it was 

 thought could interest them; the small-arm men 

 were exercised, the only music on board, the drum 

 and fife, were played. These, together with the 

 firing off the guns, shotted, did not fail to draw 

 forth their usual expressions of wonder and sur- 

 prise, " whoo-oo !" the same that was uttered by 

 Tanoa's party, on board the Vincennes. After 

 partaking of some refreshments with Captain Hud- 

 son, the rules and regulations, similar to those 

 subscribed by Tanoa, were carefully interpreted to 

 them by Mr. Cargill, and willingly subscribed by 

 the king and chiefs, with the strongest assurances, 

 on their part, that they should be carried into 

 effect, and most strictly observed. Suitable pre- 

 sents were then distributed to the king and chiefs, 

 and they left the ship, apparently highly delighted 

 with their visit. 



The surveying operations were now prosecuted, 

 and the naturalists, with as many officers as could 

 be spared, visited Rewa. Captain Hudson de- 

 scribes the passage up to Rewa as tortuous and 

 difficult, even for a boat, on account of the many 

 sand-banks and shoals. Several of the gentlemen 

 embarked with Mr. Cargill in his canoe, which had 

 a high platform, underneath which was a sort of 

 cuddy, with seats. It was a tolerably comfortable 

 conveyance in fine weather; but it was their mis- 

 fortune to experience a heavy rain, and all were 

 well wetted. The wind being contrary, they were 

 obliged to scull the whole distance, and they de- 

 scribe the canoe as having an uncomfortable 

 rocking motion. 



Captain Hudson visited the missionaries, and 

 found them most miserably accommodated, in a 

 small rickety house on the left bank of the river, 

 opposite the town of Rewa, the dwelling-house that 

 they had occupied having been blown down in the 

 tremendous storm* which happened on the 25th of 

 February, 1840. 



This storm appears to have been coincident with, if 

 not part of, the gale that occurred at New Zealand on the 

 1st of March. 



After Captain Hudson had spent some time with 

 the missionaries, my messenger, Paddy Connel, 

 made his appearance and delivered him my letters. 

 Paddy had a very awkward mishap in rounding 

 Kamba Point, for his canoe had capsized, and he 

 had been obliged to swim for his life. He had 

 thought, as he said, that some ill luck would over- 

 take him, and had, therefore, tied my letter in the 

 handkerchief on his head. By this means he kept 

 it dry, and he believed the important paper, as he 

 called it, had kept him from drowning. 



Although it had rained hard, Captain Hudson 

 resolved to fulfil his promise to the king, of showing 

 him some fireworks, and the gunner had been 

 ordered up with rockets, fireworks, &c., for that 

 purpose. He, therefore, proceeded across the river 

 to the king's house, where he found a large collec- 

 tion of natives. The house is large, and in shape 

 not unlike a Dutch barn : it is sixty feet in length 

 and thirty in width ; the eaves were six feet from 

 the ground, and along each side there were three 

 large posts, two feet in diameter and six feet high, 

 set firmly into the ground ; on these were laid the 

 horizontal beams and plates to receive the lower 

 ends of the rafters; the rafters rise to a ridge-pole, 

 thirty feet from the ground, which is supported by 

 three posts in the centre of the building ; they 

 were of uniform size, about three inches in dia- 

 meter, and eighteen inches apart. The usual thick 

 thatch was in this case very neatly made. The 

 sides of the house were of small upright reeds, set 

 closely together. All the fastenings were of sennit, 

 made from the husk of the cocoa-nut. Some 

 attempts at ornament were observed, the door- 

 posts being covered with reeds wound around with 

 sennit, which had a pretty effect. There are two 

 doorways, one on each side : these are only about 

 three feet in height, and are closed by hanging 

 mats. At the inside of the principal door are two 

 small cannons, pointed across it, which, in the eyes 

 of the king, give it a formidable appearance. A 

 sort of dais was raised at one end, a few inches; 

 this was covered with mats for the king and his 

 wives, while at the other end mats were laid for 

 his attendants ; above was a shelf for his property, 

 or riches, consisting of mats, tapa, earthenware, 

 spears, and clubs. On one side of the house, as is 

 usual among the Feejeeans, the cooking-place is 

 excavated, a foot deep and about eight feet square; 

 this was furnished with three large earthen pots, 

 of native manufacture, and two huge iron kettles, 

 obtained from some whaling-ship, such as are used 

 for trying out oil. These were crammed with 

 food. 



Some of our gentlemen entered a short time 

 previous to Captain Hudson's arrival, and found 

 the king taking a meal, with his principal wife 

 beside him stretched out on a mat. All those 

 around him were sitting after the manner of the 

 natives, for none presume to stand or lie down in 

 the presence of the king. When he had finished 

 eating and pushed the food from him, a general 

 clapping of hands took place, after which water was 

 brought, and the cup held to his mouth until he 

 had done drinking, when clapping of hands again 

 ensued. This was repeated whenever the king 

 finished doing any thing a piece of etiquette 

 always observed with great strictness. 



On state occasions this ceremony is carried much 

 farther: the king's food at such times is passed 



