Ngaraningiou undertakes to capture 

 Vendovi. 



FEEJEE GROUP. 



Disposition of the prisoners. 

 Theatricals on board. 



223 



with the rest, and it was observed that his nerves 

 were so much affected for some time afterwards 

 that he was unable to light a cigar that was given 

 him, and could not speak distinctly. Captain Hud- 

 son reminded them, that they had visited the ship 

 of their own accord, and without any promise of 

 safeguard from him ; that his object was to obtain 

 Vendovi, and that all hopes of obtaining him with- 

 out this decisive measure had failed ; that he 

 meant them no harm, but it was his intention to 

 detain them until Vendovi was brought off. The 

 canoes were likewise secured, and orders given to 

 allow none to leave the ship. The whole party 

 thus made prisoners consisted of seventy or eighty 

 natives. 



The king and chiefs, when they had recovered 

 themselves a little, acknowledged that our demand 

 was a just one ; that Vendovi deserved to be 

 punished ; that he was a dangerous character 

 among themselves ; and that they would be glad 

 to see him removed. At the same time, they said 

 they thought the capture of Vendovi impossible, and 

 j gave many reasons for this opinion. They ex- 

 pressed great fears for the missionaries and their 

 I families, when the people of Rewa should hear of 

 their detention. Captain Hudson had assured him- 

 self previously of the perfect safety of the mis- 

 sionaries and their families, and well knew that 

 this was a ruse on the part of the king to induce 

 him to change his purpose. 



They soon found him fully determined in his 

 purpose. It was shortly arranged that, with his 

 permission, Ngaraningiou and another chief should 

 go quietly to Rewa, take Vendovi by surprise, be- 

 fore he had time to escape, and bring him on board 

 alive if possible. In order to insure protection to 

 the missionaries and their establishments, they 

 were particularly told that the missionaries had 

 nothing to do with the business, and did not know 

 of it, as was evident from Mr. Jagger having re- 

 turned to Rewa before they were detained, and 

 that every influence must be exerted to protect 

 them from harm, or the prisoners might expect 

 the most exemplary punishment. 



The selection of Ngaraningiou as the emissary to 

 capture the murderer was well-timed, as Vendovi 

 had always been his rival, and the temptation to 

 get rid of so powerful an adversary was an oppor- 

 tunity not to be lost by a Feejee man, although 

 that adversary was a brother. He was soon under 

 way in his double canoe, which, with its enormous 

 sail spread to a strong breeze, was speedily out of 

 sight. 



The king, at Captain Hudson's request, informed 

 his people that none must attempt to leave the 

 ship, or they would be fired at ; that they must 

 remain on board until further orders; and that, in 

 the mean time, they would be supplied with food. 

 One attempt was made by a small canoe to leave 

 the ship, but on seeing the preparations for firing 

 at it, the persons in it quickly returned. 



After the departure of Ngaraningiou, the king, 

 queen, and chiefs became more reconciled to their 

 position. They talked much about Vendovi and 

 the murder he had committed on the crew of the 

 Charles Doggett, and said that he had also killed 

 his eldest brother. 



The king, during the evening, spoke much of 

 his being a friend to the white men, asserted that 

 he had always been so, and adduced, as an instance 



of it, his conduct in the case of The Currency Lass, 

 an English trading schooner, of Sydney, New 

 South Wales. He said that this vessel, in going 

 out of the harbour, had got on shore near the 

 anchorage; that his people had assembled round 

 about her for plunder, but that he went on board 

 himself, and kept all his subjects off that were not 

 required to assist. He told Captain Wilson and 

 the owner, Mr. Houghton, who was on board, that 

 if she got off he should expect a present, which 

 they readily consented to give ; but if she broke, 

 and got water in her hold, the vessel and property 

 must be his. This, he said, they also agreed to. 

 His people, wishing her to go to pieces, made 

 several attempts to remove the anchors, but he 

 stopped them, and drove them away ; and the only 

 thing he did, with the hope of getting the vessel 

 himself, while he was assisting the captain to get 

 her off, was to send up some of his chiefs to Rewa, 

 to give a present to the ambati. at the mbure, to 

 offer up prayers to the Great Spirit, that he would 

 cause her to get water in. Something went wrong 

 with the spirit, and the vessel got clear. The 

 only thing the owner gave him was a whale's 

 tooth and a small looking-glass ! 



When the evening set in, the natives (kai-sis) 

 were all brought on board for the night, and placed 

 forward on the gun-deck. Here they were supplied 

 with plenty of hard bread and molasses, which 

 they enjoyed exceedingly, and afterwards performed 

 several dances. The performers arranged them- 

 selves in two ranks, and went through various 

 movements, with their bodies, heads, arms, and 

 feet, keeping time to a song in a high monotonous 

 key, in which the whole joined, the ranks oc- 

 casionally changing places, those in the rear 

 occupying the front, and the others retiring be- 

 hind. 



The inferior chiefs were provided with a sail 

 under the half-deck ; the king, queen, and their 

 little daughter were accommodated by Captain 

 Hudson in his cabin. The king having expressed 

 a desire to have his evening draught of ava, some 

 of the piper mythisticum, from which it is made, 

 was fortunately found among the botanical speci- 

 mens which had been collected, and a large and 

 well-polished dish-cover was converted into an 

 ava-bowl. The ava was accordingly brewed, and 

 all the usual ceremonies gone through with, even 

 to the king's having his own cup-bearer, Jimmy 

 Housman, who was one of the party. 



After the ava was over, theatricals were resorted 

 to for the amusement of their majesties. This was 

 a business in which many of the crew of the Pea- 

 cock were proficients, having been in the habit of 

 amusing themselves in this way. Jim Crow was 

 the first piece, and well personated, both in ap- 

 pearance and song, by Oliver, the ship's tailor. 

 This representation did not fail to amuse the 

 audience exceedingly, and greatly astonished their 

 majesties. Jim Crow's appearance, on the back of 

 a jackass, was truly comical: the ass was enacted 

 by two men in a kneeling posture, with their pos- 

 teriors in contact ; the body of the animal was 

 formed of clothing ; four iron belaying-pins served 

 it for feet ; a ship's swab for its tail, and a pair of 

 old shoes for its eai-s, with a blanket as a covering. 

 The walking of the mimic quadruped about the 

 deck, with its comical-looking rider, and the audi- 

 ence, half civilized, half savage, gave the whole 



