22 A MISSION TO VITI. 
theless became a victim, and had instantly to leave for 
colder climes, the only known remedy for checking its 
progress. 
Mr. Joseph Waterhouse, the chairman of the Fijian 
district of Wesleyan Mission, kindly asked me to take 
up my residence at his house.during my stay in Taviuni; 
but, as both himself and Mr. Carey, his coadjutor, were 
about to proceed to the annual meeting of their brethren 
in Bau, I declined the offer, and accepted instead that 
of Captain Wilson, my fellow-voyager from Australia. 
My. William Coxon, the captain’s nephew, and manager 
of the cocoa-nut oil establishment which Captain Wil- 
son and M. Jaubert, of Sydney, had a few years ago 
planted at Somosomo, came in his boat to fetch us, 
bringing with him several Rotuma natives, who had 
been employed in the establishment, and were willing 
to work their passage in the ‘John Wesley’ to Sydney, 
thence to watch for a vessel to their island home. 
The distance from Wairiki to Somosomo is only six 
miles, and a fine breeze soon brought us there. The 
water off the latter place is shallow, leaving a large flat 
of rocks at ebb-tide. Captain Wilson warned me not 
to expect any. but the roughest accommodation, as no 
proper dwelling-house had as yet been erected. I was 
quite contented with what I found ; two sheds, one con- 
taining a hydraulic press for making oil, a large house 
for drying the cocoa-nuts, which also served for dry- 
ing my plants, and a small dwelling-house, all built in 
native fashion, and thatched with the leaves of the 
sugar-cane. A grove of stately cocoa-nut palms diffused 
an agreeable shade over the place, and trees laden with 
