Contexts - Rough Guide to Fiji - page 309

sumption. By the 1870s, Cakobau had converted to Christianity and ceased to practise
cannibalism; following his lead, so did the majority of the Fiji islanders.
The Argo and the arrival of beachcombers 1800-1810
The first white people to land on Fijian soil were probably the crew of the schooner Argo ,
who were shipwrecked off Lakeba in Lau in 1800. They brought with them Asian cholera
which promptly annihilated much of the local population. A few years later, a steady stream
of merchant ships from Sydney Harbour began to arrive, attracted by the fragrant sandal-
wood newly discovered at Bua Bay on the remote southwestern coast of Vanua Levu.
A few Europeans, mostly escaped convicts or mercenaries, chose to settle on the islands.
Known as “ beachcombers ”, they aligned themselves with local chiefs and acted as go-
betweens for the merchants and Fijians. One particular beachcomber, a Swede named
Charlie Savage had a strong influence on the tribal balance of power in Fiji. Shipwrecked
aboard the Eliza in 1808, he was presented as a hostage to the chief of Bau , a tiny island
off the east coast of Viti Levu. Over the following years his unscrupulous demeanour and
knowledge of muskets soon saw the island's opportunist chiefs - Naulivou and later Cakobau
- with whom Savage had aligned himself, begin to dominate the region. The possession of
firearms soon became a matter of survival for rival villages. With gun in hand and mercen-
aries by their sides, they turned the previous petty marauding style of warfare into full-blown
genocidal campaigns with entire villages being laid waste and their inhabitants shot, cooked
and eaten.
The arrival of the missionaries, 1835
In 1835, after a lull in visiting European merchant ships, Cross and Cargill of the Wesleyan
London Missionary Society arrived on Lakeba in the Lau Group and established the first mis-
sion in Fiji. Though they found little resistance to their efforts they managed to convert only
a few Tongans living on the island. Other missionaries soon followed and set up base around
Levuka , where a few hardened European merchants had huddled together in a small trading
outpost. Appalled at the entrenched traditions of cannibalism and widow strangulation, the
missionaries soon realized that the spread of Christianity would depend on the powerful pa-
gan chief of Bau.
Cakobau's war with Rewa
Bau's ruling chief, Cakobau , was a particularly ruthless warrior and received homage from
many islands in Fiji, from Kadavu in the south to Taveuni in the north. But having waged an
unsuccessful war with Qaraniqio, chief of bitter neighbour Rewa since 1840, Cakobau had
overstretched his domain and accrued too many dangerous enemies. He had also lost the sup-
port of the white traders of Levuka and had to endure a trade and ammunition blockade.