Able, on this occasion, to measure angles in relative comfort, to sketch with proper, as against makeshift, instruments, Bligh completed his sketches. He also prepared a detailed and accurate description of the islands and gave sailing directions for the areas he had covered. He had in fact discovered the extent of the group, lacking only the southernmost islands of Lau and the outlying Rotuma. This latter island was also to be associated with the Bounty, however, as it was discovered by Captain Edwards in the Pandora while he searched for the mutineers.
Soon, other seamen, guided by the notes of Bligh, ventured into these waters. The ships of commerce headed first for Tonga and then followed Bligh's route from there to the islands of Fiji. The sandalwood trade, starting with a trickle in 1804, grew to a flood in 1808 and virtually ended in 1814 when all the available trees were cut out. The seamen of those ships paid to Bligh one of the few courtesies he was to receive in his lifetime. The islands were for many years named "Bligh's Islands" and bore that name on the first chart produced by Arrowsmith of London in 1814.
It is a strange quirk of Bligh's nature that, knowing himself to be the first Western seaman to see these islands, he named none of them. Neither did he land on any of them. With an adequate number of marines to protect a landing party, and in command of a well-equipped expedition, he could well have done so. But the safe delivery of the breadfruit was his primary concern. Having once failed, he would not let anything turn him from this duty. Every day the plants remained on board lessened the chances of their eventual arrival in good condition. The fastest possible passage was essential. Water was short and had to be rationed to the men, but there had to be water for the plants also. He had also been given the duty of surveying Torres Strait, which took seventeen precious days.
One of the midshipmen engaged in the survey was to become as well known as Bligh, and his name was to become a byword in that part of the world—Matthew Flinders, the great explorer of the Australian coastal waters.
Eventually the breadfruit plants that had left so much misery in their wake were delivered to the West Indies where, it was hoped, they would provide a cheap source of food for plantation slaves. The plants prospered. But the fruit was completely unacceptable to the people for whom it had been brought. Bligh, however, had brought a few sticks of Otaheite sugar cane on his own initiative. These also grew well and were to be the foundation of many of the big sugar plantations of the next century.
With the successful completion of the breadfruit voyage, Bligh could hope with some reason for other appointments on voyages of exploration. It was reasonable to suppose that he would be sent back with time to explore the islands he had discovered. He had been recommended for the original appointment to Fiji by Sir Joseph Banks, who had been impressed with his worth on Cook's last voyage. The journal of the Bounty launch, which proved him to be a superb seaman and extraordinary navigator, was fresh in the minds of those at the Admiralty. He had also impressed the gentlemen of the Royal Society. But unfortunately for his desires and aspirations, war had broken out with France six months before his return. He was first and foremost a trained naval officer, and for the next twelve years he served in command of ships of war.
On 21 May, 1801, his work as an explorer and surveyor was belatedly recognized when he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society. But the storms of Bligh's life had not been replaced by the easy sailing of a senior officer. His association with Fiji was not to cease, nor was his penchant for sailing in troubled waters.
Although half a century would pass before Fiji was reasonably surveyed, Bligh had ended the islands' complete isolation from the world. He had shown the way, and missionaries and traders would follow.
During the days of the sandalwood trade in Fiji Bligh was appointed governor of New South Wales. He stated his intention of keeping the trade for British ships and tried to prevent the in any Yankee ships from taking part. But Bligh had his own troubles and was not able to control the trade. Nor was he destined to visit Fiji again
The ships that would follow would come to Fiji armed and prepared for battle with the fierce warriors, yet many were to find the guns superfluous. Fiji's association with the rest of the world began from that time. They came first in the hundreds, not only white men, but Lascars in the East Indiamen and Negro cooks in the Yankee ships. For such a motley crowd, the Fijians had the best description—kai vavalagi—the men from over the horizon.
They came not in uniforms or a uniformed body, but as individuals. Some would become mere beachcombers drifting with the current. Their death or their leaving would be of little consequence. Others for one reason or another were to have a profound effect on the history of Fiji.
Scent of Sandalwood (1804-14)
Bligh had shown the way for others to follow. As the tiny topsails grew larger on the horizon, it must have seemed to the Fijians that the strangers came literally from "under the sky." During the next nine years several ships were to pass through or call at the Fiji Islands. But their impact was not great: the missionaries were on their way to other islands; the traders were looking for pickings that were easier found in other places.
The missionary ship Duff was caught among the maze of reefs in the Lau Group and barely escaped disaster.
Like Tasman's ship she stuck on a reef but escaped and sped away from the islands. As a result of the voyage there were a few more reefs superimposed on Bligh's charts to warn others. Several trading vessels stopped off and even anchored, but such islanders as were seen gave the voyagers such a warlike reception that none lingered. But at last, and inevitably, one of these ships came to stay. It was the brig Argo, and she was to remain forever as her timbers bleached on the reef that had claimed her. She ran ashore on the huge Bukatatanoa Reef in Lau that today is named Argo Reef.
From the Argo came the first men of vavalagi to set foot in the islands. They were destined to leave in their wake misery and a lingering death. The crew and some missionary passengers escaped from the wreck by boat and landed at Oneata Island. Some lived for a while in peace with the owners of the land, but they had brought with them the germ of Asiatic cholera. The seamen themselves may have become immune to this disease, but it struck down the islanders more quickly than the clubs of their enemies. Finally the newcomers were killed off, but the disease spread to other islands where many died. Ghastly as it was, its power dissipated gradually, but for many years it was remembered, as was the coming of the white man, by the name lila balavu—the long wasting sickness.
One or two men survived both the shipwreck and the subsequent massacre. Of these, one was to have an impact on the life of the Fijians that extended beyond the introduction of a disease. He was Oliver Slater, who was able to leave Fiji by a ship that called two years later. It was the El Plumier, which helped to spread the Asiatic cholera germ from Lau to Koro and Vanua Levu. Slater was picked up at the last island, where he had made his way by canoe. As he sailed away, he carried with him the knowledge that these islands possessed a fortune ready for the taking.
While living with the Fijians he had seen them grating a fragrant wood on brain coral. The fragments of the wood yasi dina so obtained were then used to scent the coconut oil which they kept for toilet purposes. The wood was, in fact, sandalwood, which at that time was so highly prized and priced in China. Slater also discovered that the Fijians placed little value on the wood compared to the valuable things that could be obtained from ships, such as iron, glass and red paint. They had known of these items for many years, not from the ships which had just begun to call, but from their Tongan neighbours who had been dealing with ships for years.
It was from the Tongans that the Fijians had first obtained iron tools, with