MBAU AND VITI-LEVU. 161 



with brown, gave \\m\ altogether the appearance of an 

 Eastern sultan. No garments confined his magnificent chest 

 and neck, or concealed the natural colour of the skin, a clear 

 but decided black ; and, in spite of this scantiness of attire, 

 — the evident wealth which surrounded him showing it was 

 a matter of choice and not of necessity — " he looked every 

 inch a king." ' ^ But, as respects the gigantic size, tlius and 

 generally ascribed to him, Dr. Seemann ^ was surprised to 

 find, on placing himself near him, that he was only six feet 

 high, the doctor himself being six feet two inches. He attri- 

 butes the exaggeration, however, partly to the fact that 

 persons not accustomed to see people in a state of nudity 

 are usually deceived about tlieir size, and partly to the fact 

 of his having worn, previous to his conversion, the large 

 head of hair alluded to by Erskine, which must have added 

 greatly to liis apparent height. 



The following notice of this remarkable person and 

 his habits will not perhaps be thought superfluous. ' I 

 visited,' says Lieut. Pollard,^ ' Thakumbau, or Tui Viti, soon 

 after anchoring, and found him at dinner by himself, but 

 with several chiefs sitting or crouching near him, which is 

 tlie native posture of respect. I was struck with the 

 remarkable cleanliness observed in serving his food ; the 



' Erskiue, p. 186. 



'^ 'Viti: An Account of a Governmeut Mission to the Vitian, or Fijian 

 Islands in the years 1860-61, p. 73 : ' by Berthold Seemann, Ph.D., 

 F.L.S., F.R.G.S. ; author of the ' Narrative and the Botany of H.M.S. 

 " Herald ; " ' ' Popular History of Palms,' &c. &c. 



3 Erskine, p. 292. 



* JI 



