THE FIJIS.

Southland Times, Issue 1278, 12 July 1870, Page 3

THE FIJIS.

The following letter, says the Cornwall (Tasmania) Chronicle, from a gentleman well known in the midland districts of Tasmania, has been placed at our disposal by Mr W. J. Thrower, of this town. It is dated Uladrusi, Vamia Leva, April 24 :— I have been in considerable personal . danger since last; writing to Tasmania, and know not as yet bow it will end. I will describe tbe circumstances as follows :— You must understand that we bad working on this plantation 60 natives, whom we procured fro«n an island 90 miles distant and named Viti Levu. They had been at work for about four months, and bad become so lazy and impudent that they did just as they liked. My partner and myself humored them, and ' tried everf means to induce them to be j orderly, but without avail. I being absent j one day, they robbed my partner and ill- j treated him, and threatened to kill him ; | this not being followed up by any punishment, they grew more insolent, and shortly j after my partner and I, going into theirhut, to tell them to go to work, they rushed on us both, and attacked us with clubs and spears ; we were quite unarmed, j but I managed to knock two or three over, and then got a good stick, and we fought our way through them till we gdt into our house, when I seized my gun, and gave some of the foremost a good dose of duck shot, upon the receipt of which they retired. I told them on the next day that three of the principal ringleaders must leare the plantation, or I would certainly shoot them. Things remained quiescent for about three days, when I had occasion to leave the premises for a day ; when, watching their opportunity, the same natives seized my partner and , made him fast, while they ransacked the dwelling house, And took off everything they could carry, and then retired to a native town about a quarter of a mile distant. As soon as my partner got released he hurried to the nearest, white neighbor, sent a messenger after me, and forwarded intelligence .of ..the outrage to the different white settlers along the coast. This happened on the 21st ult. As soon as I heard of the event I hurried back to my partner, and mustering a few white and ten Tanna men we advanced and retook possession of our place, which we found gutted and deserted. The next day (22nd) we communicated with the plunderers, telling them if they did not return and deliver up all the goods they had stolen, they should be severely punished j they were evidently afraid of what they had done, and, through the medium of^ a native teacher, returned a large portion of our property, but fourteen guns, some money, and a few other things they positirely determined to keep, saying, " if we wanted them, we must fight "for them, as they were not -afraid of the white men." About midnight on the 22nd ihe settlers began to am ye", many of them having to walk; upwards of 20 miles-over a bad road. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 23rd we mustered bur forces and numbered as follows— ls whites, 9 half-castes,lo Tanna men, and about 30 friendly natives. After a brief consultation it was" decided that. we should at once advance upon the town, and prevent the depredators from escaping. "We formed into two divisions, my partner and I being appointed leaders, as being best acquainted with the locality. Accordingly we started, and as daylight broke we gave a shout and charged the town. I was one of- the first three- to enter. "We evidently surprised the enemy,'as they were running about much confused; they endeavored to escape at the back of the town, but I, perceiving their intention, called out to my men to charge and intercept. I led, and after running through the scrub, I emerged upon the beach, and right into the midst of the foe. "When they saw me they shouted, and one fellow turned to fire at me; I gave a yell, shot at him, and I believe wounded him in the arm, upon this they split, some running to the right, some to the left, and some taking to the sea right ahead. One big fellow, pressing to my left, armed with a gun, exchanged salutes with me, but they were both without effect. By this time the whole of our forces had come up, and a perfect hail of bullets poured upon the retreating foe, several of them being wounded. A large portion of them escaped, and took refuge upon, a rocky : peninsula. (Jetting all our men together, and reloading, we extended ourselves in skirmishing order, and proceeded to sweep the land before us. It proved to be very rocky and scrubby, and before going far I lost sight of the other whites, and had only five of the Tanna men with me. I, however, kept steadily on^and soon heard rapid firing uponjny right. Going on about one hundred yards, one of my Tanna men fired ; rushing up, I found we had come upon a large cave, with fourteen or thereabouts of the enemy secreted therein. Taking up a position, I waited sometime to get a shot, the Tanna men doing likewise, but it was no use— they would not show ; — so advancing in the open, I called out to them to come out and fight. As Boon as they heard my voice they put out the guns to surrender them, and as it. was the guns I wanted,"not their wretched lives, I accepted them and allowed them to escape, for I knejvthat if I attempted jto take them prisoners my Tanna allies would murder every one of them ; as it was, one man was dangerously wounded. After securing all the guns I found there, and waiting some little time to hear if there was any further fighting going on, I marched my troops back to this place. Upon arriving here I found all our forces had arrived here before me, and npon comparing notes we found that we had killed three and wounded six, and one was missing; thus ended the great battle of Na Batia. Some few hours after, the engagement more whites arrived, and a further contingent of 40 of the Tanna men; this bo terrified the towns where

oar men had taken refuge, "tlnit"^they* made them deliver up the remainder of the guns and things in their possession, so that we have recovered, nearly everything. This is the fir»t time whiteinen have attempted to punish natives' in r this group, and the sharp lesson ther have received upon thia occasion will givo them a better idea of our , abilities. Previous |p this, the plan was, 'if a native Offended, a complaint was laid before hit chief, or the Consul, when yerj likely? the fellow would escape punishment, or get off with a few lashes. This ao encouraged the natives, that they began to thiak white men were «nlj to be tolerated to supply them with guns, cloth,- knives, «fee. In the meantime here, we hare to keep ourselves armed, and place a watch at night, but this is only a precautionary measure, as I apprehend no real danger* for the natives of this island exprert no ! sympathy with the Viti Levu men, but all natives of i*iji are noted for their treachery, so lam on my guard. It is time some steps were taken towards forming a government, as Fiji is going ahead too, rapidly to be any ,, longer checked by the evil propensities of ,s»e native population. I hare filled : \ my letter with war and bloodshed, but as the event occurred so recently^ riot only my mind, but the whole of r iji is full of it. ; ' . •- .-■•.'U