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MEETING AT WAI KAVA. 257 
in hand as soon as the requisite information could be 
collected. The exiled chief had found a warm sup- 
porter in the late Mr. Williams, United States Consul, 
who called the attention of his Government to the facts, 
that since Ritova’s removal, American whalers had been 
unable to obtain supplies on the northern shores of 
Vanua Levu, and that the béche-de-mer trade of Macu- 
ata, for years carried on by enterprising American citi- 
zens, and yielding lucrative returns, had become totally 
extinct. Mr. Williams’s able successor, Dr. Brower, took 
the same view of the matter. Others were not want- 
ing who pointed out that any distribution of territories 
made by the Tonguese leader had become null and void 
by his publicly renouncing every right of interference in 
the affairs of Fiji. 
On the 22nd of October, 1860, a meeting was held 
at Wai Kava (Cakaudrove), to which all the chiefs of 
Vanua Levu, Ritova amongst them, had been invited, in 
order to give Colonel Smythe an opportunity to inquire 
into their views respecting the cession of Fiji, and also 
to discuss with Mr. Pritchard the affairs of Macuata. 
Two of the chiefs, Tui Bua and Bete, did not appear; the 
former being on a journey when the message was sent, 
the latter pretending that the notice given was too short 
to enable him to attend. But Bonaveidogo, who deserted 
Ritova in the hour of trial and was rewarded for his 
treachery with the whole of eastern Macuata, had made 
his appearance. Bonaveidogo and Ritova had not seen 
each other since then, and as it was necessary, for the 
establishment of a durable peace, that the two should 
be brought face to face before the public meeting took 
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