210 A MISSION TO VITI. 
tember, and stood over to Bega (=Mbenga), an oval- 
shaped island, about five miles long by three wide, sub- 
ject to Rewa, and in some measure to Kuruduadua. No 
sooner had we cast anchor than Mr. Don, an English- 
man, came to the Consul, complaining that the natives, 
under pressure from the Tonguese, wished to compel 
him to let them have back again the land which he 
had bought, as they had given the island of Bega to the 
Tonguese. Mr. Pritchard went to the man who repre- 
sented himself as the principal chief, and told him that 
Mr. Don totally rejected the offer of ten fat pigs, or any 
other equivalent for the land he had acquired, and if 
they had given their island to the Tonguese, it was by 
no means binding, Maafu, the Tonguese chief, having 
publicly renounced all claims on and in Fiji; and, until 
her Britannic Majesty’s pleasure was known, the cession 
of Fiji to England was valid, and could not be ignored. 
Two Tonguese present tried to argue the point, but were 
signally defeated by one no novice in native tactics. 
One of our reasons for making Bega was to obtain 
some oil of the Dilo (Calophyllum inophyllum, Linn.), an 
excellent liniment for rheumatism, pains in the joints, 
bruises, etc., and enjoying a high reputation throughout 
the South Sea. Mr. Storck, my able assistant, had— 
after quite recovering from his fall in Somosomo—com- 
mitted the imprudence, whilst paying a visit to his friend 
Peter, the King’s councillor, at Bau, to sleep a night 
between two open doors on a matted floor of a new 
house, in consequence of which he had gradually be- 
come so stiff as ultimately to be unable to move even 
his hands. We had to dress him, put him to bed, and 
