In July, the Expedition met with trouble
from hostile natives. On the 11th one of the cutters was seized by the
people of Solevu, Bua, though the crew were unharmed. A force landed from
the ships, and burst the houses at Tai and Solevu without loss of life on
either side. Through Whippy the interpreter, wiles demanded the surrender
of his cutter, which was recovered, through all the gear had been removed.
A more serious affair occurred at Malolo Island a fortnight later (24th
July), when the Expedition was almost at the end of its work in the Group.
the fact that such areas as the Yasawas had been surveyed without any
clash with the untamed people who inhabited them was highly creditable;
but at Malolo, as a result of an indiscretion, two of the officers were
murdered; and one of them was Wilkes's nephew. Strong feeling was aroused
among the men of the squadron. Two days later Wilkes landed parties, who
laid waste the food gardens, burnt the villages of Yaro and Soleva, and
killed fifty-seven of the natives without suffering any loss themselves.
On the following day the surviving chiefs made an object surrender. That
was not, however, the end of the matter. During later stages of the
voyage, certain officers of the Expedition became disgruntled, and were
disciplined and sent home in disgrace. These men laid complaints against
Wilkes, and on his return to America he was faced with charges which
included harsh treatment of the people of Tai and Solevu, and "the murder
of natives of Malolo".
As a result of the Expedition's surveys, the United States government
published the first reasonably complete chart of the Fiji group; and much
valuable information in the form of sailing directions and scientific
reports, was made available. It was a considerable achievement for three
months' work; though, of course, there were inaccuracies: the height of
Mount Washington, for example, was greatly overstated while that given for
Taveuini was far too low; and geological information gathered by the
surveyors was not always reliable. But these were minor matters. The vast
amount of good work done was an important contribution to the knowledge of
the Group, and the new charts made Fiji waters much safer for shipping.
While the squadron was in the Group,
H.M.S. Sulphur (Captain Sir Edward Belcher), and H.M. schooner
Starling, arrived at Rewa. Belcher applied to the chiefs for
water and provisions, and they gleefully demanded the payment promised
in the new Regulations. the irate Englishman roundly abused the
Americans and the new-fangled Regulations, for by common custom warships
were exempt from the payment of port dues, and Wilkes had omitted to
provide for this in his treaty. While at Rewa, the Sulphur
struck a coral patch and damaged her ruder. Hearing of the mishap,
Wilkes took no little trouble to obtain and send materials to repair the
damage but he got scant thanks for it.
By 1840, Levuka was already the principal.
European settlement in the islands, having a population of about thirty
men, mostly British or American, who, with their native wives, and
families, made a community of nearly two hundred people. some of the men
built small schooners, in which they traded amount the islands for
tortoise-shell and other saleable products; and Wilkes says he met with
no better behaved or better disposed white men during his voyage in the
Pacific. There was a rude system of justice among these people and when,
in March, 1842, the Englishman James Carter was killed at Wakaya by a
Fijian and a native of Hawaii, the men of Levuka pursued and captured
the murderers, held an inquiry, and banged them both. The settlement was
strung along the beach, on the narrow strip of flat land between the
foot-hills and the sea; behind the houses the mountain ridge rose like a
wall of rock; and beyond lay the green valley of Lovoni, occupied by a
wild and hostile tribe whose pilferings kept the traders on the alert.
For thirty years the Levuka people lived under the constant threat of
raids by the Lovoni. In November, 1840, Lovoni warriors raided the
settlement and carried off nine women. In the following July, they
swooped down in the night, set fire to the houses and stores, adjacent
native village. The buildings were easy enough to replace, for they were
of bush materials; indeed, the settlement gained from its rebuilding;
but the loss of the merchandise was not so readily made good, for visits
of overseas vessels were infrequent.
Levuka fell upon evil days in 1844, when
some of the traders incurred Cakobau's displeasure, and he drove them
all out of his dominions. there was at Rewa a man named Charles
Pickering, said to be a native of New South Wales, who was a source of
trouble between whites and natives wherever he went. During the Bau-Rewa
war Pickering abused the position of neutrality enjoyed by foreign
residents by carrying information to Quraniqio, and becoming that
chief's active agent. In May, 1844, Pickering sailed his schooner
Jane to Lau, ostensibly on a trading trip, but there were ground
for believing that his real purpose was to take one of Tanoa's run-away
wives to Lakeba, in order to stir up revolt against Bau. he was
unfortunate. The Jane was wrecked on Cicia Island; and the
havoc wrought by reef and sea was completed by the natives, who killed
one of the crew and salvaged and seized the cargo. Pickering escaped to
Lakeba, where he was given food and shelter by the missionaries. News of
the wreck reached Levuka and Bau at about the same time. A Levuka
schooner sailed at once for Cicia, to try and buy anchors and chains
from the wreck; but, fearing reprisals, the natives would not come off
to trade, and the crew knew better than to land. The schooner sailed on
to Lakeba. Meanwhile, Cakobau sent Mara in hot pursuit of Pickering,
with a large war-canoe. Pickering, knowing what to expect if Cakobau
should capture him, offered liberal payment to the Levuka boat to take
him and his women to Rewa. Though the Levuka men were not behind the
natives in their dislike of the man, they were tempted by the
opportunity to redeem an unprofitable trip, and took him. After a
fruitless call at Somosomo, the Bau canoe reached Lakeba in July, to
find that its quarry had escaped.
Angry at the frustration of his plans,
Cakobau made reprisals not only against the men who had been the cause
of it, but against the whole settlement. Early in 'August, the white men
and their families were given three days in which to leave Levuka.
Whippy and his friends offered gifts, but in vain. Even Tui Levuka,
under whom protection they had hitherto lived, had become perturbed at
their growing prosperity, and in any case he was too much under
Cakobau's influence to oppose his will. the Bau's attacks; they moved,
however, to Makogai, but finding that place too unprotected, they went
on to Solevu Bay, near the southernmost point of Vanua Levu, and settled
at Nawaido. In their haste, they were forced to abandon everything they
could not carry away in their little ships. The hull of a 70-ton
schooner, which whippy and his partner were building for trading to the
colonies, was left on the stocks; the houses fell into ruins, and scrub
invaded the clearings; and the beach and harbour, which had seen so much
activity, were deserted by all but a few roving whites attracted to the
place.
the traders found the site of the new
settlement at Nawaido unhealthy, and too far removed from visiting
ships. they longed for the clear streams, cool breezes and safe harbour
of Levuka. Lacking Cakobau's protection, they were harried by hostile
natives; and, on 24th September, 1845, one of their cutters was seized
when opposite Korrolevu Island, near Somosomo, five white men of the
crew being killed. The missionary Thomas as Williams, however, bought
the cutter from its captors, and wrote to inform the men of Solevu of
the outrage; and four months later the ship was returned to William
Valentine. There was much sickness in the little community. Whippy
himself being so seriously ill in May, 1847, that he sent to Tiliva
mission station for John Hunt. finally, in 1848, dysentery claimed
sixteen victims, and the survivors begged to be allowed to return to
Levuka. Cakobau agreed readily enough for both he and the young Tui
Levuka had missed the merchandise and munitions they were accustomed to
get so easily. On 28th February, 1849, the boats left Solevu Bay, laden
with the families and their goods. On the morning of their departure,
hot words passed between Whippy and some of the others, and he remained
behind but on 6th March, a party arrived from Levuka and persuaded him
to return.
Dealings in land were becoming more
frequent. In December, 1840, Cakobau sold Wakaya Island to Houghton, the
owner of the schooner Currency Lass, which was a frequent visitor to
Fiji and was then lying at Levuka. The traders, also had been acquiring
land from old Tui Levuka, and his son's regret and alarm were among the
causes of his hostility. In land-grabbing, however, the United States
commercial agent outdistanced all others. John Brown Williams of Salem,
U.S.A., formerly United States consul in New Zealand, was appointed
commercial agent for Fiji about the year 1840. After a preliminary visit
to the islands, he obtained permission in 1845 to remove to Fiji,
leaving a vice-consul in New Zealand. He arrived early in 1846, settling
first Naqara Island, near Mau; and within a few months he and his
associates began to buy land. they acquired Nukulau Island and Laucala
Point in June, and Nukubalavu (on the Namosi coast) in the following
October, the purchase prices being thirty dollars for Nukulau coast) in
the following October, the purchase prices being thirty dollars for
Nukulau and fifty dollars twenty cents for Laucala, all paid in muskets,
ammunition, and trade goods. Williams was frequently involved in
disputes with the natives about his boundaries, and his title deeds,
which were registered by himself and with himself (acting as American
consul) ten years later, were the most irregular that came under the
notice of the Lands Commission. He became sole owner of the Nukulau and
Laucala properties by the simple process of scratching out the names of
his partners without any note or explanation. In June, 1846, he moved to
Nikulau Island, where he built a two-storied wooden house, with a cellar
beneath, which he used as office and store; for, in addition to his
official duties, he held profitable agencies for several business houses
in Salem and Boston.
In 1849, Williams was celebrating the
fourth of July, with salvoes from cannon and muskets, when one of his
cannon, being fired by a negro named William James, burst at the
touch-hole. James's arm was torn off, and the house caught fire. There
were many natives staying on Nukulau at the time, from Beqa Island and
the coastal districts of Rewa; and, since among the Fijians a fire was
always an occasion for legitimate plunder rather than for assistance
in putting it out, these people seized what they could and made off
with the loot. The affair seemed unimportant enough at the time,
except to Williams; but it had international repercussions, and before
long Williams had involved Cakobau and other high chiefs in a dispute
with the Government of the United States. This dispute assumed such
proportions that it overshadowed and conditioned the affairs of the
next twenty years. Indeed, Williams's fire, and the unnoticed advent
of the Tongan chief Ma'afu, both of which seemed at the time to be
more incidents, set a motion such a train of events that, taken
together, they mark an epoch in the history of Fiji.
After the fire, Williams was said to
have moved first to Moturiki; but he soon settled at Laucala Point,
where he erected a flagstaff, and built a house and a store, from
which he supplied arms and ammunition to both sides in the Bau-Rewa
war. While cultivating the friendship of Qaraniqio by sending him
supplies during his exile in the hills, he bribed the puppet king
Phillips into confirming land-sales made by his brother, and enemy,
Qaraniqio. As for his losses, he awaited the arrival of an American
warship to press a claim for compensation. In August, 1849, he sought
to repair his damaged fortunes by hiring Fijians from Phillips for the
purpose of setting up a beche-de-mer fishery at the northern end of
New Caledonia, in partnership with an Englishman named Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald took twenty of these men, in two small ships, and on his
arrival at New Caledonia, set about collecting beche-de-mer with the
usual disregard of the rights of the local natives. The ships were
attacked, and one of them was seized, four of the crew being killed.
Alarmed, Fitzgerald landed his Fijian labourers under the command of
an American negro, and, giving them a little ammunition, abandoned
them, sailing off to Sydney himself in the remaining ship. The roman
Catholic Bishop found the marooned Fijians in dire straits, their
numbers thinned by starvation and the attacks of the natives. He took
them to Aneityum Island, in the New Hebrides, where they suffered
greatly from sickness. One of them ran amuck; the survivors were taken
to Sydney, where they arrived in a deplorable condition. The colonial
government took charge of them, treating them kindly, and lodging them
in a public hospital. Nine emaciated survivors were conveyed back to
Fiji in H.M. schooner Bramble; and of these, one died on the voyage,
and the remaining eight reached their homes near Nukulau on 10th June,
1850. The chief Phillips was of course unconcerned at the suffering
and loss of life that had resulted from his friend Williams's business
venture. What Williams himself thought of it is not recorded.
* * * * * *
* * * *
In 1847, Cakobau ventured
beyond the traditional limits of tribute, and raised money to carry on his
wars by means of levies of coconut oil. the scheme had no sanction in custom,
and the natural resentment of the natives was not infrequently vented upon the
white traders who, having the necessary casks, collected and bought oil. The
traders on their part were rapacious, exacting all they could; there were
disputes about the capacity of the casks supplied, and the missionaries found
evidence of attempts to exploit the ignorance of the common people. The
natives, however, retaliated with a dark ingenuity of deceit: casks were said
to have been fitted with ham tubes fixed directly under the bung-holes; and,
while the gauge-stick showed oil in plenty - in the bamboos - it failed to
detect the sea-water in the casks. A barrel of oil drifted ashore at Taileva;
a Manila man living at Viwa tried to drive a bargain for its purchase, and
having failed, enlisted the help of the chief Gavidi of Lasakau (Bau), by the
gift of a musket. Gavidi sent to demand the oil, which was quite properly
refused; and the enraged chief had five of the towns-people shot out of hand.
Such incidents laid all white traders, good and bad, open to treachery and
attack; and when H.M.S. Calypso (CaptainWorth) visited Fiji in the
middle of 1848, bringing the British consul from Samoa, there were several
incidents awaiting investigation and punishment. On 12th June, while the
Calypso was at Somosomo, a boat was sent to Koro Island to inquire into
and avenge the murder of two Englishmen. Guilt being proved, the town was
burnt. At Bau, early in July, Captain worth heard of the murder of two
Englishmen at Macuata; being unable to visit that coast, he sent a letter to
the chief Ritova (Tui Macuata) protesting against the outrage, and promising
strong action if the report proved to be true. The warship sailed, however,
before Ritova could reply.
Cakobau took advantage of
the visit of the Calypso to lay charges against Pickering; but while
Captain worth recognized a degree of truth in them, he could not find
sufficient grounds for legal action. On the contrary, Cakobau's insolent
bearing so incensed the British captain that, suspecting the chief of hostile
intentions, he considered ordering the bombardment and destruction of Bau. It
might have been better had such action been taken, for at this time Cakobau
was the recognized champion of ruthlessness and savagery, and the source of
most of the unrest and bloodshed.
During the following year
(1849) two British warships visited Fiji. H.M.S. Havannah (Captain
Erskine) came in august, and when Cakobau was entertained on board at Levuka,
Erskine treated him to a demonstration of the power and accuracy of the ship's
cannon. Later, Cakobau confided to Calvert: "This makes me tremble. Should I
offend these people they have but to bring their ship to Bau, when, having
found me out with their spy-glasses, my head would fall at the first shot. It
is to be wondered if he knew how narrowly he had escaped that very fate a few
months before. Encouraged by Erskine's friendly attitude, Cakobau revived his
charges against Pickering, hinting that the latter's deportation would be a
great service to the islands, and alleging that, for his own ends, he
constantly stirred up enmity between white settlers and natives. Erskine says
that, while the charges were doubtless founded on facts, they were exaggerated
from motives of jealousy; and, like Captain worth, he found insufficient
grounds for action. He also inquired into the murder of the chief Batinamu, of
Bua, and did what he could to make peace in that part of Vanua Levu. While at
Bua he received a letter from Ritova, in reply to that sent by Captain Worth.
After declaring that he knew nothing of the murders - "the common people alone
know about them" - Ritova went on to allege that his rival Bonaveidogo was
responsible: a contradiction that was unlikely to carry conviction.
In October, H.M. sloop-of-war Daphne
(Captain Fanshawe) arrived; and as the Consul was still in the Group, an
attempt was made to bring about a settlement of the war between Bau and Rewa.
The rival chiefs of Rewa, Phillips and Qaraniqio, met on the warship, in the
presence of Cakobau, Calvert, the Consul, and the officers, Cakobau demanded
that Qaraniqio should go to Bau, but he refused, fearing treachery, and saying
that he had nothing to do with Bau; but he expressed his willingness to make
peace with his brother Phillips, "who might go to Rewa and be king for all he
cared". but the negotiations broke down over the fate of Buretu, whose
destruction Cakobau had decreed on account of its support of Rewa: Qaraniqio
stipulated that as a necessary condition of peace, the people of Bureta should
be spared, and this Cakobau refused to consider. Before leaving Fiji waters
(10th October) Captain Fanshawe addressed a letter to Cakobau, urging him to
abandon savage practices. "Depend upon it," he wrote, "such practices cannot
last and great will be the honour acquired by that chief who has the courage
to oppose them. There is one man, and only one, who can effectually do this;
that man is yourself." Fanshawe then referred to the expected death of the
aged king of Bau, Tanoa, and asked as a personal favour that Cakobau interpose
his authority to save the widows from becoming the victims of "atrocious
superstition." The letter was no more productive of results than the
discussions between the rival chiefs.
Notwithstanding the apparent lack of results,
the pressure exerted by naval officers and by missionaries was not without its
effect upon the chiefs. They began to make concessions to outside opinion, and
to understand that they could not murder and slay as the whim of the moment
dictated; they were learning, also, that sure retribution followed any
molestation of foreigners living among them.
In August, 1844, missionaries of the roman
Catholic church landed at Lakeba, where Wesleyan missionaries had already been
at work for nine years. The unhappy relations that soon developed can scarcely
be understood without some reference to events in Tahiti and other Pacific
groups during the previous decade. Catholic missionaries from Peru had visited
Tahiti during the closing years of the eighteenth century, but after several
years of fruitless labour they had abandoned the field. The Duff took
Protestant missionaries there in 1797, and for fifteen years they were little
more successful than the Catholics. When, however, King Pomare renounced
heathenism, the work prospered, and by 1822, "the missionaries had really
effected considerable social improvement among the Tahitians". In November,
1836, by which time most of the people were already nominally Christian, two
French Fathers landed without permission and were expelled; and soon
afterwards French warships intervened. Events moved fast. On 30th August,
1838, Vice-Admiral du Petit-Thomars of the French frigate Venus presented an
ultimatum to the queen, demanding an indemnity of 2,000 Spanish dollars, and a
salute of twenty-one guns for the French flag; and, to prevent bloodshed, the
queen complied with his demands and agreed to receive the priests. thus one
wrong begot another: the Protestant missionaries had it in their power to
prevent ill-treatment of the Catholic Fathers by the natives, missionaries
intruded themselves, under the guns of the French warships, upon a group
already fully and successfully occupied; and the French commander bullied a
defenceless people into paying an exorbitant indemnity, and relinquishing the
right to exclude what was to them a strange creed which they did not want. The
queen and her chiefs appealed to England, but Lord Palmerston was
non-committal. The climax came in 1842, when du Petit Thomars again appeared
and presented a new ultimatum; and, since no help was forthcoming from
England, the queen was forced to request French protection. the announcement,
in March 1843, that France had been offered and had accepted a Protectorate
over Tahiti caused uneasiness in England, where serious aspect when the
French Minister for Marine asked for an extraordinary credit of nearly six
million francs for the naval establishment in the Pacific. Her Majesty's
Government nevertheless did nothing to pose or question the French occupation
of Tahiti; and on 7th November, the royal standard was struck and the French
flag was hoisted in its place. H.M. consul Pritchard was arrested soon
afterwards, and forced to leave Tahiti under circumstances which caused a
ferment of excitement and indignation in England, and strained relations with
France. Within a few months missionary circles in the Pacific had died down,
French missionaries gained a foothold in Tonga and Fiji. In Tonga, King George
had striven for seven years to prevent any repetition in his domains of what
had occurred in Tahiti, and had successfully resisted an ultimatum from a
French warship. In 1842, however, French Fathers established themselves at
Bea, on Tongatabu; and in the following year Aleamotu'a (King Josiah)
petitioned Queen Victoria for protection against the French.
From Tonga, Mgr. Bataillon brought to Fiji the
Marist Fathers Breheret and Roulleaux, with Brother Annet. The party landed
at Lakeba on 9th August, 1844, and were coldly received by the chiefs. The
natural alarm of the chiefs, at the intrusion of French interests, and of
the missionaries, at the arrival of ambassadors of a rival faith, was far
from being allayed when it was reported that Mgr. Bataillon had attempted to
induce Finau - a Tongan prince then at Lakeba - to embrace his religion,
offering in return to make him king at Vavau in place of the obstinate King
George.
Finau refused to have anything to do with
such a scheme, and Mgr. Bataillon tuned to Tui Nayau, the king of Lakeba,
who objected that he had already received one lot of priests - though he
had done little but oppose them and their teaching - and, landing the two
Fathers and their attendant on Namuka Island, Mgr. Bataillon departed on
the French ship Adolphe. "The Fathers found it necessary to
return to Lakeba at all risks, and to establish themselves there. For
seven years, until the return of Mgr Bataillon in 1851, they endured
extreme privations and were continually subjected to ignominy and
persecution and to the humiliation of apparent failure in their mission."
They indeed "baptized a few dying children, and won some adherents who
soon fell away again, being intimidated by threats and persecution"; but
they suffered much from want of clothing and food. The Wesleyan
missionaries at Lakeba had the grace to send food to the starving men,
which, though refused at first from a natural pride, was accepted later.
The situation that resulted needs to be
viewed against the background of the narrow religious beliefs and the
political jealousies of the period. There were mutual recriminations, and
bickerings in which the respective merits and demerits of France was an
unseemly competition for souls. Under the circumstances, incidents of the
kind were inevitable. Commenting upon the situation, Dr. Lyth - who was
one of the Wesleyan missionaries at Lakeba at the time - wrote: "The
Bishop committed an overnight in leaving his priests so destitute. A
Fijian hates poverty, and charity is as cold here as in civilized lands."
After the priests had endured their humiliation resolutely for a year, a
French vessel called and left supplies for them; but the differing
religious tenets of the two groups rendered collaboration and co-operation
impossible, and the Fijians must have found it difficult to reconcile
Christian teaching with the ecclesiastical bitterness and bigotry that
accompanied it. Nevertheless, these unfortunate rivalries should not
prevent recognition of the quality of the work done by both missions;
though it is regrettable that the new=-comers did not select some
unoccupied place - of which there were many - in which to begin their
work. The two priests of Lakeba held on bravely for nearly eleven years;
but in 1855, the roman Catholic Mission abandoned Lau, and also
its stations on Taveuni and at Rewa, and concentrated its work at Lavuka.
The pioneer missionary, William Cross, fell
ill in April, 1842, and after being moved to Somosomo in order to be under
the care of Dr. Lyth, died there on 15th October. John Hunt began the
translation of the New Testament into the Bauan dialect in 1846, finishing
it early in 1847, and by June of that year the first complete and bound
copies - entirely produced at Viwa - were available. In October, 1847, the
missionaries at Viwa drew up "rules for civil government" to be
recommended to Christian chiefs as soon as it appeared expedient to do so.
The attempt to introduce a system of government based upon European ideas
was both premature and ill-advised, and does not appear to have met with
any success. Missionary influence is seen, however, in the manner in which
a young man of Viwa was brought to justice, and punished. The people
gathered to hear the case, and the man was found guilty and flogged with a
rope's end; elsewhere in Fiji he would probably have been clubbed if a
commoner, and smiled upon if a chief.
Missionary enterprise was concerned with
more than preaching and the suppression of savage customs, and David
Hazlewood, who arrived in Fiji in August, 1844, compiled a Dictionary and
Grammar of the Fijian Language. The book was completed by September, 1850,
printed on the mission press at Viwa, and published in March, 1851; and it
remains the standard work of reference for the language. Other practical
arts were not neglected; the mission house at Viwa, for example, built
under John Hunt's supervision and completed in 1845, was constructed of
stone set in lime obtained by burning coral; and being the first stone
house seen in Fiji, it attracted much attention among the natives. for
many articles of food, and for housing and transport, the missionaries
were generally dependent upon the Fijians; and they paid for these things
by giving an equivalent in goods - spades, hatchets, knives, prints,
calico, shirts, trousers, looking-glasses, razors, and other useful
articles. This system of barter was resented by certain of the traders,
and not without reason; but the lack of currency, and the natives'
inexperience in the use of it, left the missionaries no choice, and they
benefited the natives; their possession of iron tools and implements and
of European fabrics did much to improve their condition, enabling them to
hew and dig more easily and to live in greater comfort; while the
knowledge they gained of the fair value of the articles commonly offered
by traders made it more difficult for unscrupulous men to exploit their
inexperience.
Broken by ten years of ceaseless struggle
against the horrors among which he lived, John Hunt died at Viwa on 4th
October, 1848. Hitherto, the important chiefs had resisted all attempts to
convert them; but on 19th October, 1849, tui Vayau adopted Christianity.
This was a blow to Cakobau. Though more bitterly opposed than ever to the
new teaching, he was powerless to hinder its progress, despite the fact
that it threatened his position and that of the other high chiefs. Knowing
that in the end he must give way, he nevertheless delayed as long as he
could. The Viwa chiefs and Tui Nayau had turned; Bua was already divided;
and, stung to action , he took the offensive at the end of 1849. The
missionaries he feared to harm, remembering Erskine's guns; but he
imagined that the common people among the Christians were his own
property, and that they lived only at his pleasure. He was mistaken. His
life-long friend Varani placed himself at the head of the Christian party,
and sent his uncle Namosimalua to throw himself into the Christian town of
Dama (Bua) at the head of some hundreds of warriors armed with muskets and
ammunition provided by the Levuka traders; and the missionaries appealed
to a Tongan chief then visiting Bau with three hundred followers. The
Tongans bared their teeth, the Christians prepared to defend themselves,
and Cakobau called off the whole campaign. This episode was a blow to his
pride and prestige, and left no doubt in his mind that he was waging a
losing battle against Christianity, progress, and civilization - and
against Tongans.
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