Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/392

 862 FIJI AXD THE njIAls^S. case. They were all of one mind on the subject. He said that he in- tended to fence Kamba in, and, having subdued them by starvation, would, without killing any, bring them to the Yunivalu, who might act as he deemed right towards his o^ti rebellious subjects. He considered that his arrival at this time was opportune, and that the Lord might use him to deliver the oppressed ; and he hoped that the distractions of Fiji might speedily subside, and a better state of affairs be permanently established. The Queen was preparing to accompany her husband, and Mr. Calvert begged her to remain at home with the women and chil- dren and old people. The King backed this request, but without avail. He himself was strongly urged not to expose himself in the front of the battle, as had been his custom. On the ord of April, the Tongan fleet passed Kamba on their way to Kiuva, where they were to join the Vunivalu, with his Fijian army. They remained there till the 7th, when the whole force, numbering above a thousand Fijians, and two thousand Tongans, proceeded to Kamba. This place, with the smaller town of Koroi Thumu, stood on a promontory, across the inland base of which a fortified fence was erected. The Fijian army went inland to attack this long fence, while George and the Yunivalu went with the rest to effect a landing on the north within the enclosure, opposite to Koroi Thumu. Here they met with resistance, and one of their number was shot and fell into the sea. When the forces had landed, George took a company to cut do^vn trees for the erection offences, but, in the meantime, some of his people were shot and clubbed, and their bodies dragged into the town to be eaten ; whereupon, without waiting for orders, the Tongans rushed forward, and stormed Koroi Thumu, destroying the toAvn with fire. The rebels who were protecting the long fence against the Fijians, seeing that the smaller to^vn was taken, took shelter within Kamba, against which the united forces now proceeded. Already the bodies of six Tongans (one a Chief) had been laid before the heathen temples of the town, as offer- ings to their gods, all of whose priests had promised that the Tongans should be destroyed, so that there should not be any left to take their canoes back to Tonga. The death-drum beat loud inside the town, the Kambans rejoicing over the bodies of the Tongans, and keeping up a brisk fire on the approaching army. The Tongans dashed on, passing by their killed and wounded, speedily made a breach in the fence, and forced their way inside the town. Mara, and upwards of a hundred of his valiant men, of whom he had boasted so much, had made their escape ; they ran over the sharp shells on the reef, and swam across to the three towns which had espoused their cause. When Mara saw the