202 The Triumphs of the Gospel tn Fiji. 
Tasman, the Dutch navigator, discovered these islands in 
1643, but there is no record of another visit from any ship 
until Captain Cook visited Vanua, in 1772. Captain Bligh, 
sailing in the launch of the ill-fated Bounty^ paid them a 
visit in 1782; and in 1796, the London Missionary Society's 
ship Duff called at Taviuni. In 1806, traders from China 
began to visit the largest island, for supplies of sandalwood 
to burn before Chinese idol-shrines; but information re- 
specting the group was scanty and unreliable. During 
recent years, however, British ships of war have visited the 
islands ; and in the year 1874, the whole group was annexed 
by Great Britain. The Government of the United States 
sent out an exploring expedition, which prepared an elabo- 
rate survey of the Archipelago. From this survey, our most 
accurate information is obtained. Still, nothing has yet been 
discovered calculated to cast light upon the early history 
of the people. Both South Sea Islanders and Europeans 
have mingled with the people, and influenced their life. 
In 1804, a number of convicts escaped from the penal 
settlement of New South Wales, and found their way to the 
islands. They attached themselves to various chiefs, and 
developed and directed the art of war among the people ; 
for it seems that by some means they had become possessed 
of fire-arms, which they used on behalf of the particular 
chiefs who protected them. These men were desperadoes 
of the vilest type, and indulged in such terrible wickedness 
that even the natives — cannibals though they were — -looked 
upon their white sojourners as monsters of iniquity and 
cruelty. From one circumstance or another, they, however, 
obtained the upper hand of the chiefs, so that their slightest 
wish became law. The last of these lawless men was named 
Paddy Connor, and was living at the time of the commence- 
ment of the mission enterprise on the islands. Connor 
