DANFORD. 159 
cenas and croton shrubs gave quite a finish to the 
place. Danford evidently enjoyed our surprise at find- 
ing everything so clean and comfortable, and new mats 
and even calico curtains. It was the best kept native- 
built house I had visited in Fiji. Afterwards, when 
having seen more of us, he told us how much annoyed 
he had been by certain remarks the whites on the coast 
had made to his disadvantage. Those people, who 
should be nameless, had insulted him by asking him 
point-blank how cannibal food tasted, and how he could 
think of forsaking the Christian religion and assisting 
in heathen rites. He had nothing to oppose of these 
accusations but silent contempt, and his well-fingered 
Bible was.a good proof of his real disposition. In his 
own way he had evidently done a great deal of good; 
was the direct means of abolishing many abominable 
practices; and without this pioneer we should never 
have been able to reach this little-known region of the 
world. He was very fond of reading, and had accumu- 
lated a good many books, mostly presents from consuls, 
missionaries, or captains and officers of ships. I in- 
creased it by a copy of Shakspeare, after which he had 
a hankering. The natives often came to look at his 
picture books, and the ‘ Ilustrated London News’ was a 
source of endless delight to them. 
