154 THE CRUISE OF TEE ' CUBAgOA.' 



breeze soon permitted us to crowd on sail, for the purpose 

 of making the twenty-five miles which separated the an- 

 chorage of Ovalau from that of IVIbau, where we came to 

 anchor at half-past three p.m., about three miles from the 

 beach. Mbau is a low isle, very near tlie S.E. extremity 

 of Viti-Levu, and has now the honour of being the capital of 

 the Fijian group, from its being the residence of the cele- 

 brated Tlmkumbau, formerly a great heathen waiTior and 

 cannibal, now a Christian king. 



The day after our arrival the Commodore was apprised 

 by a written deposition and formal complaint, that a white 

 man, of the name of Creelman, a small cotton planter in the 

 island of Viti-Levu, had been beaten and wrongfully used by 

 some natives on the banks of the Wai-Levu. Being further 

 informed from another soiirce, that the offenders had escaped 

 punishment owing to the protection of two petty chiefs of 

 the interior, the one a heathen, the other a nominal convert 

 to Christianitj', Sir William thought proper to despatch an 

 officer to the King of Eewa, the suzei'ain or liege-lord of 

 these two chiefs, to call his attention to this matter, until he 

 could send the Esk to sift it to the bottom. Accordingly, 

 that very evening, a little before midnight, the cutter, Avell 

 armed and provisioned, left the ' Cura^'oa ' on its way to the 

 town of Eewa, in the island of Viti-Levu. The expedition 

 was under the orders of Lieutenant Meade, with Charley 

 Wise as pilot and interpreter, and I got permission to 

 accompany it. We had eight oars, wliich we reduced to six 

 for tlie sake of room, and in order to give the men the 



