Meuaee itni to King Tano*.— Toirn of 

 Levufci.— Peak of Audulong. 



OVOLAU. 



Otwervatory e*tabll»hco\ 



ihnn were found there. I at once engaged them 

 to become our interpreters during the time we 

 Btayed, which afforded ua many advantages in 

 communicating with the natives. 



About three hours* after the Vincennes anchored, 

 the Peacock entered ; but there was no news or 

 ei^n of the Flying-Fish, nor bad she been seen 

 while the Peacock was in the offing. I felt much 

 uneasiness about her, more bo un account of the 

 inexperienced officer who hud her in temporary 

 charge. 



[ directed the chief, Tui Levukn, to send a 

 message immediately to Ambau, to inform King 

 Tanoa of my arrival, nnd desire him to visit me. 

 Thin was at once assuming authority over him, 

 and after the fashion (as I understood) of the 

 country; but it was doubted by same whether lie 

 would come, as ho was old, and a powerful chief. 

 I thought the experiment was worth trying, as, in 

 ease he obeyed, it would be considered that he 

 acknowledged me as his superior, which 1 thought 

 might be beneficial in case of any difficulty occur- 

 ring during our stay ; I believed, moreover, that it 

 would add greatly to (he respect which the natives 

 would hold us in. 



The town of Levuka contains about forty houses; 

 it is situated on the east side of the island of Ovo- 

 hiu, in a quiet and peaceful valley .surrounded by a 

 dense prove imT cocoa-nut and bread fruit trees, 

 with a tine stream of fresh and pure water running 

 through it to the beach; high, broken, volcanic 

 peals rise to the w ent, forming the background. 



The frames of the houses are built of the bread- 

 fruit tree, and are filled in with reeds, whilst the 

 mof io covered with n thatch of the wild sugar- 

 cane. They are usually oblong in shape, and from 

 twenty to twenty -five feet in length by lifteen in 

 breadth. 



The most conspicuous and remarkable structure 

 is the bure, or spirit-house, which is built on a 

 raised and walled mnund : fits proportions are 

 exceedingly uncouth, being marly twice Ms hie.li as 

 it is broad at its bane, and forming a sin»ukir, 

 sharp- peaked roof; ihe piece of timber serving for 

 the ridge-pule, projects three or four feet at each 

 end, is covered with numbers of white shells 

 (ovula cypnea), and has two long poles or spears 

 crossing it at fight angles. At the termination of 

 the thatching, tho roofs of all the houses are about 

 a foot thick, and project eighteen inches or two feet, 

 forming eaves, which secure them from the wet. 

 For ihe most part they have two doors, and a fire- 

 place in the en ire, composed of a few stone*. The 

 furniture consists of a few boxes, mats, several 

 large clay jars, and many drinking vessels, the 

 manufacture of pottery being extensively carried 

 on by them. The sleeping- place is generally 

 screened off, and raised about a foot above the 

 other part of the floor. 



Having settled definitively the mode of operation 

 I intended to pursue in surveying the group, I was I 

 desirous of fixing some of the main points in my 

 own mind, as well as in that of the officei-s, and 

 therefore ordered a large party from each ship to he- 

 prepared to accompany me on the following morn- 

 ing, to one of the high peaks of the island, called 

 Andulong, taking with us the barometers. &.c, Air 

 measuring its altitude. I likewise issued an order, 

 directing officers who left the ship for any purpose 

 to be armed ; being well satisfied that every pre- 



caution ought to he taken, in order to prevent sur- 

 prise in any shape ; I also impressed upon all the 

 necessity of circumspection, ami of keeping them- 

 Rhrea on their guard, which, as I learnt from the 

 few incidents related to nit by Whippy and others, 

 was highly necessary ; orders w. re also given to 

 prepare the boats of both ships for surveying 

 duties. 



I understood that about forty whites had taken 

 up their residence here ; but wo only found twelve, 

 w hn were all married to native women, and gene- 

 rally had large families. 



We found lying at anchor here a small sloop, 

 about the size of a long-boat, called" Who'd have 

 thought it 1" a tender to the ship Leonidas, Cap- 

 tain Eaglcston, who was at another island curing 

 the biche-demar ; she was in charge of bis first 

 officer, Mr. Winn, w ho bad been about trading for 

 tortoise-shell at the different islands. He reported 

 to nie that one of his men hail been enticed from 

 the boat, and had been murdered, and probably 

 eaten : this was said to have occurred near Mu- 

 thunta, on the north side of Vanua-levu. ft ap- 

 peared that Mr. Winn, with only four or five men, 

 Did boon H ading in this small boat, for vesscJ she 

 could not be called, around the group; they bad 

 with them a small skin" or punt, capable of holding 

 only one man. In this one of the crew had been 

 sent on shore, fur the purpose of ascertaining 

 whether the native* had any thing to dispone of. 

 On his landing, he was led up from the bench, 

 and never returned. This incident claimed our 

 alt. ut ion afterwards, and our proceedings in re- 

 lation to it will be spoken of in their proper 

 place. 



Un the morning of the 9th, the weather proved 

 fine, and at half-past seven we all went on shore 

 with our instruments. Orders were left with the 

 ship to fire guns, on a signal being given from the 

 top of Andulong. I put up both of the barometers, 

 and Blade several comparisons, and then left one 

 under charge of an officer to make half-hourly 

 observations. Wo set off for the fu nk of Andu- 

 long, apparently but a short hour's walk. Our 

 party consisted of about twenty-five officers and 

 the naturalists, nil intent upon tln-ir different 

 branches of duly. Being entirely unused to bo 

 fatiguing a climb, some gave up, and were obliged 

 to return; the strongest of ns lound no linle exer- 

 tion necessary to overcome the difficulties which 

 beset our path : every now and then a perpendi- 

 cular rise of fifteen or twenty feet was to be as- 

 cended, then a narrow ridge to be crossed, and again 

 a descent into a deep ravine; the whole was clothed 

 with vines at intervals, and the walking was very 

 precarious, from the numbers of roots and slippery 

 mud we encountered ; water continually bubbled 

 across our path from numerous rills "that were 

 hurrying headlong down the ravines. The last part 

 of the ascent was sharp and steep, having preci- 

 pices of several hundreds of feet on each side of 

 uh. On passing up the path, I saw our native 

 guides each pull a leaf when they came to a spot, 

 and throw it down ; on inquiry. Whippy told me 

 it was the place w here a man had been "clubbed : 

 this was considered us an offering of respect to 

 him, and, if not performed, they have a notion 

 they will soon be killed themselves". Judging from 

 the number of places in which these atonements 

 were made, many victims have suffered in this 



