Note 8 — WILLIAM ENDICOTT’S NARRATIVE

The Fiji islands are an important group of the Central Pacific lying largely between latitude 15°30′ and 19°30′ South and longitude 177° East and 178° West. They comprise some 155 islands, of which 100 are inhabited, and numerous islets and reefs. The group was discovered by Tasman in 1643 and was ceded to Great Britain by Thakombau on Oct. 10, 1874. The natives are of Melanesian stock with an admixture of Polynesian. The mountaineers of Vanua Levu show the purest strain while the costal tribes of that and the surrounding islands show a very pronounced strain of Tongan blood. All are now Christian through the efforts of the Wesleyan missionaries who went there in 1835 and a white man or woman is safer with these natives than on the streets of New York or Chicago.