2 A MISSION TO VITI. 
that after its termination he should still be able to ob- 
tain a Government vessel for Fiji, resolved to proceed 
by the mail steamer to New Zealand. He came on 
board the ‘ Benares’ to communicate this resolution to 
me, but I, having made an attempt to find him on 
shore, was absent, and as his steamer left soon after the 
English mail had been transferred, I did not meet with 
him until three months afterwards. 
Sir William Denison, to whom I had letters from the 
home Government, advised me either to go to New 
Zealand and wait there for an opportunity, or else di- 
rect to Fiji, in the missionary vessel « John Wesley,’ 
about to sail that day. Wishing to economize my time 
as much as possible, I preferred the latter. In com- 
municating with the Rev. John Eggleston, General Se- 
cretary of the Wesleyan Mission, that gentleman kindly 
postponed the departure of their vessel a few days, in 
order to afford me time for making the necessary pre- 
parations for future explorations. He supplied me be- 
sides with letters of introduction to residents in the 
Fijian islands, books, and a list of articles used as barter, 
all of which proved highly acceptable. In reply to Sir 
William Denison’s asking for a passage for me and my 
assistant, Mr. Jacob Storck, Mr. Eggleston cheerfully 
granted a free passage to both of us, at the same time 
reminding the Governor-General that the Wesleyans as 
a body felt under obligations to the Government for so 
frequently allowing their vessels to assist their mis- 
sionaries in the Pacific Ocean, rendering them timely 
aid, and supplying them with medicines, and bringing 
them home when ill. With the assistance of Mr. Charles 
