468 FIJI Amy the fijiaj^s. that the feast should not take place, at the same time asking Mr. Owen for ten whales' teeth. He was requested to let the contents of the ovens be given up for burial : he consented, but would not allow the ovens to be opened till the next day. Nothing more could be gained, and the next morning Mr. Owen came to Viwa, bringing in the boat the horri- ble cargo. A large hole was dug, and upon a mat at the bottom were placed eighty-four cooked portions of men's bodies, which were then quickly buried. Very shortly after this affair, the Mbauans set out with many canoes against Kamba, and Mr. Calvert and Elijah followed, hoping, in the event of the town being captured, to secure the safety of some Christians who lived there. In this expedition, however, the Vunivalu again failed, and lost several men of importance. The priests, who had promised great things, were thus brought into further disrepute and contempt. On August 21st a man was cooked and eaten at Mbau by the Somosomans. During this and the following month, the inter- ference of the Missionaries, in spite of great resistance, was successful in saving two women from being strangled at their husbands' death. Hitherto every effort had failed to establish the Mission in Mbau itself ; and it was well known that the opposition of Thakombau was strengthened by the whites, resident at Ovalau, who had reason to fear that their own licence would be restricted by the establishment of Chris- tianity at head-quarters. Yet things were so ordered that these very men became, indirectly, the means of doing w^hat they had so long op- posed. They were impatient at being compelled to pay fees to Yiwa and Mbau, whenever they erected a new house for the biche-de-mar trade; and during the recent demand for that article made by the Vunivalu for the price of his new vessels, the whites had not scrupled to purchase quantities of biche-de-mar, which the natives, in different parts, had gathered for him. The people were very willing to trade, finding it far more profitable to part with the fruits of their toil for payment, than to give it up into the grasp of their Chief. As yet, the whites had been very glad to buy the patronage and protection of the Chiefs of Mbau and Viwa ; and now that the power and influence of these declined, their claims were neglected. A house built bv a white man at a town belonging to Viw^a, without the sanction of Elijah, and even in defiance of his prohibition, was burnt down, and report said, by the order of the Chief This exasperated the whites, who soon found fresh cause of offence. In August, 1853, one of their cutters from Ovalau had been becalmed near Malaki, a town subject to Viwa, on the
