r 
AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL. 245 
were the subject of comment in the remotest parts of 
the group. Bau acquitted itself handsomely of the 
debt it owed, by presenting King George with the ‘Ca- 
kobau,’ a schooner of eighty tons built in the United 
States. The example set by Bau, of putting down re- 
bellion at home by foreign assistance, was speedily fol- 
lowed by another Fijian state. Rabe (= Rambeh), an 
island of considerable size, had disputed the authority 
of the ruling chief of Cakaudrove, Tui Cakau; and King 
George having proffered assistance, it was readily ac- 
cepted by Tui Cakau. Rabe fell, and the Tonguese 
were in the habit of calling it their own, until, in 1860, 
Maafu, in the name of King George, received payment 
for the assistance rendered. 
The conquest of Kaba and Rabe had conferred upon 
Maafu and his followers such a high prestige that the 
Fijian chiefs began to tremble for their own safety, and 
the impolicy of calling in foreigners to suppress rebel- 
lion at home seemed to dawn upon the more far-seeing 
among them. Maafu was not slow in perceiving the advan- 
tage he had gained, and his favourite plan of subduing 
the whole of Fiji appeared now to have arrived at ma- 
turity. By cunning intriguing and a bold system of 
warfare, he hoped to carry it into execution. Returning 
to Lomolomo, he set about building a schooner of thirty- 
five tons, which should at once place him at an advan- 
tage with enemies who had to rely solely upon canoes. 
Nor did he fail to make other preparations for conquest, 
and he would have commenced hostile operations with- 
out delay, if it had not been for the unexpected arrival 
of H. B. M. Consul, Mr. W. Pritchard, who landed in 
