Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/498

 464: FIJI AKD THE FIJIANS. throughout which he had been an unchanged cannibal ; and he perished in his sins. Thakombau now succeeded to the title of Vu-ni-valu, although he had been actually supreme for some years. For some time he had been styled Tui Viti, King of Fiji, a distinction which, though really unfounded, he and his people worked to advantage. The King's ambition was insatiable. Hearing that Kamehameha, the King of the Sandwich Islands, and King George of Tonga, each possessed a ship of his own, Thakombau set his heart upon being similarly distinguished. Wishing for a vessel larger than the schooners built by the whites in Fiji, he, after several unsuccessful attempts with others, requested Captain Wallis of Salem, an old trader to Fiji, to procure him a good vessel from America, for which he agreed to pay one thousand piculs of biche-de-mar. The King became very impatient for the appearance of the vessel. The object of his desire becoming known in New South Wales, several persons there, hoping for a good speculation, offered to supply him. After waiting some time, he asked Mr. Calvert to Avrite to Sydney for him, to order a ketch which had been offered to him. He was reminded of his American engagement, but said that the promised time for its fulfilment had passed, and further, that he was well able to purchase both the vesels. Mr. Calvert questioned his ability to raise so large a payment ; upon which the King appealed to Elijah of Viwa, who said he thought enough might be procured. The ]lis- sionary warned them that the people were getting less willing than ever to submit to these heavy and despotic imposts, from which they themselves gained no advantage. He also talked to Elijah in private, and asked him to dissuade Thakombau from his purpose ; but both were confident of success, and the bargain for the ketch was struck for five hundred piculs of biche-de-mar. In August, 1851, she was sent down by William Owen, Esq., of Adelaide, who, soon after followed in a large brigantine, intending to carry the biche-de-mar to China and take a cargo of tea and sugar back to Australia. Thakombau and Elijah set to work diligently to levy the necessary contributions, and canoes and other property were presented to independent tribes to obtain their assistance. But before any progress was made, a fine new vessel of seventy-six tons, named the " Thakombau," arrived from America, according to the previous engagement, and Captain AVallis followed in a large barque, in September. Mr. Owen, after a vexatious and expensive delay of several weeks, could not get one-third of the promised payment ; and the King, now that he had another and larger vessel, gave up the ketch, and asked for the value of the bich©.