THE PAPUAN RACE. 



159 



The canoes "having been chiefly destroyed during the war" which 

 was pending, none made their appearance about the ship. The con- 

 tending parties were a father and son, who, to outward appearance, 

 were reconciled by Captain Hudson ; although, as it proved, his in- 

 tervention did not lead to any permanent result. 



On the 11th, the Peacock left Mbua Bay, continuing along the 

 coast of Vanua-levu, and came to anchor in the passage separating the 

 considerable island of Anganga. The natives of this vicinity sustain 

 a bad character; but one of our boats had some communication with 

 them. 



On the 12th, the Peacock reached Naloa. Captain Eagleston, in the 

 ship Leonidas of Salem, was here engaged in the biche-le-mar fishery. 

 The groundwork of success in this occupation, appears to be the hardi- 

 hood of the Feejeeans in diving ; a point in which they excel even 

 the Polynesians. A large drying-house must be built at each fishing 

 station. And the management of the natives, who may work or not 

 as they happen to be in the humour, independent of interruptions 

 from frequent wars and outrages, affords ample scope for the exercise 

 of tact and prudence. Add to this, the state of watchfulness that 

 must be kept up for months ; and the conversion of the labour of 

 such a population to general purposes of utility, will demand a place 

 among the most remarkable triumphs of Commerce. 



Whale teeth are extravagantly valued at the Feejee Islands; and 

 may be regarded as in some respects representing the precious metals. 

 Purchases may be made with them; but they hardly form a 'cur- 

 rency,' since it is unsafe for a person not of the class of chiefs to re- 

 tain one. What becomes of the great quantities brought here by 

 traders, is a problem yet unsolved. Whales are common among the 

 Feejee Islands ; and it seems remarkable that a people so ingenious, 

 should not, like the tribes of the Northern shores of the Pacific, have 

 devised some method of capturing them. 



I visited the village, at a little distance from the coast; and on the 

 way, I observed some basaltic columns, from which the earth had 

 been removed for the purpose of quarrying them. The undertaking 

 will appear of some importance, when it was considered, that beasts of 

 burden and all mechanical contrivances for assisting transportation, 

 are unknown. An old bridge, about two hundred feet in length, 

 consisted of a single line of cocoa trunks, supported by a pile or post 

 at each point of junction. 



At another village, built on the islet near the anchorage, young 



