166 A MISSION TO VITI. 
displayed in the shape and colour of the wigs, and doing- 
up of the head ; a European peruquier might have taken 
a lesson with advantage. Chief Kuruduadua had taken 
his seat on the steps leading to the principal entrance of 
the great Bure. He wore a turban of snow-white tapa, 
and a purple girdle of the same material, from which 
were suspended two trains of native cloth, several yards 
long. On his left were his brothers and councillors, 
‘amongst whom was seen his friend Danford. When we 
had taken our seats, the people welcomed us by clap- 
ping of hands, whereupon mutual explanations were at 
once entered into. 
Through Mr. Waterhouse, Colonel Smythe addressed 
to the chief a speech similar to that delivered at Bau 
and other places, the purport of which has already been 
given. Mr. Waterhouse spoke in the Bauan (court) 
dialect, and Kuruduadua replied in the same, that he 
and his people had made up their minds to “lean upon 
England,” as he expressed it, in the manner agreed upon 
with Mr. Consul Pritchard. Colonel Smythe approved of 
their determination as judicious, there being no country 
more able to protect them than mighty England. He 
also recommended the cultivation of cotton. On being 
questioned about the ownership of land, Kuruduadua 
replied that he considered himself the sole proprietor 
of all the land, the boundaries and principal tribes of 
which were specified; that his late brother had scld 
some land to Mr. Williams, deceased, and he himself 
some to several Englishmen, all these transactions being 
acknowledged as valid. 
An expression of mutual goodwill concluded the 
