Loloma, or Two Years in Cannibal-Land

Henry Britton (1843-1948) was a journalist in colonial Australia born in Derby, England, who emigrated with his family to Australia in 1855 where his father established a newspaper in Castlemaine, Victoria. Britton learned the business of a journalist in his father's office and in 1863 joined the parliamentary reporting staff of The Age newspaper in Melbourne, transferring to The Argus two years later. In 1870 he acted as special correspondent for the Argus in Fiji and the series of letters he wrote was republished in book form under the title of Fiji in 1870 which had a large sale. In 1873 and 1874 he returned to Fiji on further missions for The Argus and was also acting as special correspondent for The Times. In 1877 Britton was made chief of the Argus reporting staff and sub-editor, and the following year made a voyage round the world. On his return to Melbourne he resumed his connection with the Argus before joining the contributing staffs of the Age and Leader in 1883. At the end of that year he published a romance called Loloma, illustrative of cannibal life among the Fijians in the olden time, his aim being to offer readers a record of the ancient manners and customs, traditions and superstitions of the Fijians based largely on his own recollections and knowledge of the country. Some portions of the first half of the book appeared in the Australasian in the form of short stories.