MALOLO, 293 
prolong the time’of our stay in the group. We, therefore, contented 
ourselves with surveying those parts that required correction, and 
testing the accuracy of the former examinations. 
Ambau is one of the most striking of the Feejee towns; its mbure is 
very conspicuous, and it is, upon the whole, one of the most extraordi- 
nary places in this group, holding as it does so much of the political 
power. The island on which it is situated is not more than a mile 
long by half a mile wide, and the place has literally been made of 
importance by the assistance of a few renegade whites, who, besides 
aiding the inhabitants in their wars, have taught them all manner of 
roguery. Among those who thus added all the vices of civilized life 
to their own native barbarity, I would include the people of Viwa and 
Verata, who have frequently been enabled to carry on their wars at a 
distance by the assistance of the foreign vessels that have been here, 
and in return have in several instances massacred their white coad- 
jutors. 
It was at Ambau that the French brig Aimable Josephine, Captain 
Bureau, was cut off, on the night of the 19th July, 1834. In retaliation 
for this act, Captain D’Urville destroyed the town of Viwa in 1839. It 
appears that this vessel had been frequently employed in transporting 
the warriors of Ambau from place to place. In return for this service, 
a promise was made to supply Captain Bureau with a cargo of biche 
de mar and shell. Instead of fulfilling this promise, the chief Namosi- 
malua, ia whom he had long trusted, seized upon his vessel and caused 
him to be put to death. The chief was, it is said, averse to the latter 
crime, but was constrained to it by the chiefs of Ambau, although he 
at the same time acknowledged himself under many obligations to the 
captain, and professed a great Feejee friendship towards him. The 
captain was warned by the traders as to the danger of trusting the 
natives as much ashe did. But he disregarded these cautions, and 
the consequence was the loss both of the vessel and his own life.* 
The brig was cut off through the instrumentality of six of the na- 
tives of Viwa, whom he had on a former visit taken on board and 
carried with him to Tahiti. These went on board on the afternoon 
of 19th July, leaving at the fish-house Charley, an English resident 
of Viwa, and a Frenchman named Clermont. When the natives 
came on board and were in the gangway, the second officer, with the 
cook and steward, were standing on the forecastle, and the captain was 
on the quarter-deck. One of the natives called the attention of the 
captain to the small schooner which was then lying at a short distance 
* See Appendix XVII., for Captain Eagleston’s letter. 
