selves, but apply the law of the land most rigorously, in not permitting any building to be constructed, without their own order and consent.

On Captain Hudson's reaching Rewa, he found Mr. Cargill, with his wife and five children, living in a small house, with only one apartment, having had his house blown down in a hurricane some two months before. The king paid no attention whatever to the request to build him a new house, until spoken to by Captain Hudson, when he promised to set about it forthwith. I cannot speak too highly of the cheerfulness and resignation with which the members of the mission and their families meet the trials they have to go through; nor can I withhold my surprise how any ladies or their husbands can endure a residence attended with such dangers and discomfort, cut off as they are from all communication with their friends and kindred. Truly, there is no poetry in such a life, and it requires all the enthusiasm that fervent religion calls forth, to endure the pains and perils to which they are subject.

We regretted to learn the death of Mrs. Cargill during our stay among the group, leaving a family of five young children. I can scarcely conceive a situation more pitiable than Mr. Cargill's is rendered by this bereavement. In consequence of the destitute state in which his children were left, he was obliged to return to England without delay.

It will be seen that the missionaries here have had but little encouragement. Neither is there a prospect of their making much progress for some time to come. The chiefs are averse to the new religion, because they do not choose to adopt, as they say, other gods at their time of life, and lest they should lose their authority over their people, whom they govern now through the medium of their gods or priests. They refuse to allow any one of the natives under their rule to join the mission, or receive instruction. From my own observation, I am very well satisfied that the common people, if permitted, would readily seek the change that would insure any thing like security from the tyrannical customs they are now suffering under.

The opinion is becoming general, that where a missionary resides wars do not take place; and the moment will arrive when the change in this group will be more rapid than that which has heretofore attended their exertions elsewhere. Although this may yet be at some distance, it must certainly ensue, whenever the intercourse with the whites shall have so much increased as to make it desirable for the chiefs to acquire the art of writing, and they have forined a proper estimate of our power. Should the king of one of the powerful districts be converted, his whole tribe will follow the royal example.

The missionaries have already been settled from one to five years at the different stations. A press has been established at Rewa, and catechisms have been published in the Ambau, Somu-somu, and Rewa dialects. The book of Mark, with some elementary works, have also been published in the dialect of Rewa and Lakemba.

All the missionaries with whom I had intercourse, were of opinion that the natives of this group were far more intelligent tnan those of other parts of Polynesia. There are few of them that could not express themselves with great clearness and force. My own experience, and that of the officers generally, is conclusive as to the last point, for the interpreters frequently made use of expressions that I am well persuaded did not emanate from themselves.

Since we left the Feejee Islands, a letter has been received from David Whippy, giving a history of the transactions that have occurred in this group up to 1841. I shall relate the substance of this, as it will illustrate the intrigues and cruelties incident to the character and government of this savage people.

The pilots all reached Levuka safely, three days after they left us, and found all things well, except the garden, which, David says, had come to nought. He was not aware that we ourselves had gathered some of the fruits of it.

Shortly after their return, the mountaineers showed hostile intentions towards them. The reason assigned for this, and which was altogether untrue, was, that the three mountaineers who had been employed at the observatory had never been paid, and that the white men of Levuka were the cause of it. About the same time, Seru and his cousin Wai-nue quarrelled at Ambau, which the latter left, and went to Somu-somu, where he was kindly received. This event caused the war that had been so long in expectation to break out between Ambau and Somu-somu.

8

Seru came to Levuka, and wanted the white men to engage in the war on his side; but they refused, preferring to remain at home to protect their property, as the natives of Levuka were to accompany him. This greatly affronted him. He then went against Somu-somu, but came back in a few days, having failed in his expedition.

In November, the mountaineers ran away with nine of the women of Levuka. On application being made to Ambau, Seru sent to demand that they should be returned, but the mountaineers refused to give them up. It was afterwards understood that Seru had privately told his messenger to tell the mountaineers not to give the women up. -an act of duplicity which the whites accounted for by their refusal to join him against Somu-somu.

In December, the Currency Lass again visited Levuka, when Houghton, the owner, bought of Seru the island of Wakaia.

In January, Seru sent a party to Naloa, to create a disturbance among the people of Muthuata. This party secretly informed the old king, Tui Muthuata, that the chief Gingi was conspiring to kill him, and offered him assistance, which he gladly accepted. In the night they landed at Muthuata, and, with the king's party, killed Gingi and about ninety of his followers. When this massacre was finished, the Ambau people returned home, and there found that the king of Rewa and his brother had quarrelled, and that the brother had fled to Ambau for protection.

In February, the Ambau people fitted out another expedition against Muthuata, now much weakened by the late massacre. The king being absent, they burnt his town, killing and taking prisoners many of his people. They also burnt the town of Soulabe, and returned to Ambau. During their absence, Wai-nue, the chief who had fled to Somu-somu, had bought over the fishing people on the Verata shore, who attacked Ambau and killed five of its people, and took their bodies to Somu-somu. This caused the war to break out anew between these two districts.

The Ambau people, in March, sought revenge on the fishermen, but their expedition proved unsuccessful. During their absence, one of Tanoa's queens had burnt Ambau. They then were obliged to rebuild it, but prepared for another expedition.

In April, Paddy Connel died on Ambatiki, without having any more issue.

The chief of Viwa, Namosimalua, whose town Captain D'Urville, of the French Expedition, had destroyed, and who had since pretended to turn Christian, and who was, with his nephew, the person who instigated the taking of the French brig Josephine, and the massacre of her captain and crew, affected to quarrel with Ambau. The cause of the dispute was the wife of the Viwa chief. He then sent to the fishermen of Verata to engage their assistance against Ambau, which was most readily granted. This chief and Seru kept up the semblance of great enmity, but planned the destruction of the fishermen, of whom they had both become jealous. The day the two parties met, on the signal for the fight being given, the Viwa and Ambau forces fell upon the unsuspecting fishermen, and massacred one hundred and eighty of them. They, however, made a most resolute resistance, and killed about seventy of their murderers. In July, Ambau was again rebuilt.

On the 2d of August, a total eclipse of the moon occurred. It. began about 8 P. M., and the moon was totally obscured until two o'clock in the morning. When it emerged, it was of a blood-red colour, which it retained until it set. The natives were in great consternation, and said that it foreboded the death of some great chief, and the destruction of some town. On the strength of it, Whippy says, the mountain chiefs on Ovolau began to quarrel, and four of them were severely wounded in a fight, but none killed. The chief of Levuka sent his son to try and make peace among them, but with little effect.

The chief of Rewa's brother, Mr. Phillips, who had fled to Ambau, returned to Rewa, which he was again ordered to leave; but he refused, and is determined to fight if his brother should undertake to compel him.

The islands are becoming worse every day, for the tyrant Seru is depopulating them, and will do a great deal of harm if his career be not stopped. He is now, in fact, king, for Tanoa does not dare to act without Seru's permission. He is constantly sending to the white men at Levuka for their property, and notwithstanding his demands are complied with, he continues to threaten to break their heads. To please him they find to be impossible, and Whippy writes, if his reign be not shortened, their lives will be.

Several trading vessels have been at Malolo, who all speak of the natives, both there and in the neighbourhood, as being very friendly and civil.

Several vessels had arrived and were fishing for biche de mar, but without much success. The wars and massacres constantly occurring had, in a great measure, put a stop to all the labours of the natives, and had turned their attention from all peaceful pursuits.

In the latter part of July, both the towns of Levuka were totally destroyed by fire, which took place in the dead of the night. Whippy and the rest lost all their property; books, papers, &c., were all burnt, but no lives were lost. The town, however, was fast rebuilding, and would be much improved.

The missionaries and their families are all well at Somu-somu, but they have made no converts. Mr. Cross complains that the Viwa chief, Naugarrasia, had turned out a hypocrite, after having deceived him for a year. The missionaries are making no further progress at Rewa, and the troubles there will prevent any. They have not yet been favoured with a missionary teacher at Levuka, which these respectable men have been long endeavouring to obtain. They are

anxious for the means of instruction for their children, of whom they have among them about fifty. It is to be hoped that this opportunity, which is offered to the missionaries, will not be long neglected. To instruct children, who are thus offered to them, appears to be one of the best possible modes of furthering the great object they have in view. The present generation of the Feejee nation I cannot but consider as irreclaimable, and that it would be the true policy to direct their whole efforts to the rising one. In this they will be most likely to succeed by fostering the white men of Levuka, and connecting themselves with them. From them they would receive every possible assistance, in consequence of their anxiety to forward the education of their own children; and the latter, under missionary auspices, would soon rise up into a class, that, connected in blood and language with the natives, and at the same time instructed in the way of religion and civilization, could not fail to exert a most salutary influence over the destinies of these fine islands.

In taking leave of the Feejee Islands, I was deeply impressed with the recollection of the various feelings and anxieties to which my operations among them had given rise. In spite of the severe loss I had sustained in the death of one dear to me, I could not but consider that we were fortunate in having performed our duties without suffering a greater number of serious accidents. The contrast of the character of the islands themselves, with that of the race of beings by which they are inhabited, is marked most strongly. The latter are truly wretches in the strongest sense of the term, and degraded beyond the conception of civilized people. For the sake of decency, and to avoid shocking the moral sense of my readers, I have refrained from relating many things which happened under my own eyes. What I have stated, will, however, serve to give an idea of the habits, manners, and customs of the natives of Feejee, in every point that can be spoken of without exciting a blush.

No one can visit these islands without feeling a poignant regret that so lovely a part of God's creation should be daily and hourly sullied by deeds of such unparalleled depravity as those to which I have alluded.

The time will, I trust, ere long arrive, when the missionaries, by their perseverance, courage, and devotedness, shall reclaim these islanders from their sensual and savage customs, and bring them within the fold of civilization. For the success of their meritorious labours they have my most hearty prayers; and it has afforded me no small pleasure to learn that we were considered by them as having in