270 A MISSION TO VITI. 
“ Her Majesty’s ship, under my command, sailed from Coro- 
mandel harbour, east coast of New Zealand, on the 8th July, and 
arrived at Levuka harbour, island of Ovalau, on the 15th, after 
a favourable passage made under sail. Having been informed 
by Mr. Pritchard that the trade in béche-de-mer on the north- 
west coast of Vanua Levu was entirely stopped in consequence 
of a war which was being carried on there between two rival 
chiefs, one of whom was supported by a body of Tongans, 
‘whose usual residence is on Lakeba, one of the windward is- 
lands, I decided on endeavouring to put a stop to a state of 
affairs so prejudicial to British interests; and in order that my 
measures should be backed by the highest native authority in 
Fiji, I requested Mr. Pritchard to propose to Cakobau and 
Maafu to accompany me to the Macuata district in the ‘ Pelorus.’ 
This, after a little diplomatic shuffling, they consented to do; 
and having received them, Mr. Pritchard, and the consular in- 
terpreter, on board, we left Levuka on the morning of the 18th, 
entering the great reef which encircles Vanua Levu by a pass 
a little to the northward of the Nadi passage, after which our 
course lay through a very intricate channel formed by sunken 
reefs and patches, of which no regular survey exists, but 
through which we were piloted in the most able manner by one 
of the English residents at Ovalau (Christopher Carr), the 
owner of a small béche-de-mer trader. Under his direction we 
reached anchorage off Levuta, about twenty miles from our desti- 
nation, Macuata, that evening; and the following morning, having 
weighed as soon as the sun was sufficiently high to enable us 
to distinguish the shoals, we anchored in Naduri Harbour, 
Macuata Bay, about 1500 yards from where some houses were 
visible on the beach. 
“On sending on shore to ascertain the state of affairs, we 
found, as I had anticipated would be the case, that the com- 
bined force of the Tongans and Fijians had driven their oppo- 
nents off the mainland, and that the latter had taken refuge on 
Kia Island, about ten miles from our anchorage. Since their 
expulsion their enemies had committed great havoc amongst 
their plantations, had destroyed nearly all the large canoes, 
