Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/12

 IV PEEFACE. and Ng-g. That is to say, the 5 is never pronounced without m preceding.; the d never without n^ and so on. In this work, therefore, — 1. The vowels in Fijian words have the Italian pronuncia- tion : a^ as m father ^ e, like a in mate^ % as in machine j o^ as indole I u^ as oo in pool. All the vowels are sounded. 2. The consonants have the same power as in English; except the following : c represents J^A, as in that^ B — mh j D — nd I G — ng 'j Q — ng-g. Thus (7<a^ma is pronounced thama ; j5(?Z6 — mbole ; Dalo — ndalo ; Gaga — nganga ; Qia — ^nggia. 3. In proper names only these peculiar combinations have, throughout the book, been represented by their English equiva- lents. Thus, Bau is spelt Mbau ; and the name of its King, Cakobau, is written Thakombau. For further information on these points, the reader is referred to the Chapter on Language, for which he is indebted to the Kev. John Dury Geden, of Didsbury. This work also owes much to Miss Elizabeth Farmer, whose clever pencil has prepared most of the engravings which embel- lish its pages. G. S. R. PART II. The material of Part 11., embracing the Mission History, has been supplied by the Rev. James Calvert, who labom^ed in Fiji for seventeen years. For the facts alone is he responsible. It is necessary to state this, as there are remarks made with reference to himself in these pages, to the insertion of which his own modesty would never allow him to consent. A large amount of circumstantial detail has been left out, in consequence of the limited space at the Editor's disposal. In some cases it has been found difficult to give the whole of even the necessary outline. G. S. R. London-, Roverriber^ 1858.