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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40691 ***
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+Kidnapping in the Pacific, by WHG Kingston.
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+KIDNAPPING IN THE PACIFIC, BY WHG KINGSTON.
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+"You want a yarn.  You shall have one," said a young friend of mine, a
+midshipman, who had just returned from a four years' cruise in the
+Pacific.  "I am not a good hand at describing what I have seen, but I
+can narrate better the adventures of others which they have told me:--"
+
+We had visited a good many islands in the Pacific, engaged in settling
+the disputes of the natives or trying to settle them, punishing evil
+doers, supporting the consuls and missionaries, surveying occasionally
+hitherto unknown harbours, and endeavouring to make the British flag
+respected among the dark-skinned inhabitants of those regions.
+
+I with another midshipman and a boat's crew had landed on a beautiful
+island of the Western Pacific to bring off a cargo of cocoa-nuts and
+breadfruit with which the natives had promised to supply us.  Two of our
+men had straggled off against orders into the interior.  While waiting
+for them we saw the signal made for our return.  Unwilling to leave them
+behind, we ourselves unwisely started off to look for them.  The natives
+gave us to understand that they were a little way ahead, so we pushed on
+hoping to come up with them and bring them with us.
+
+A considerable time longer than we expected was thus occupied, and when
+having at length overtaken them we got back to the beach, we found that
+a strong breeze had set in, and that so heavy a surf was breaking on the
+shore that it would be extremely dangerous passing through it.  Still
+the signal was flying and the order must be obeyed.
+
+We shoved off, but had not pulled many strokes before a succession of
+tremendous rollers came roaring in, turning the boat right over and
+sending her back almost stove to pieces on the beach.  Had it not been
+for the natives who swam to our rescue, we should probably have lost our
+lives.
+
+Wet through, and half-drowned, we were dragged on shore.  It would have
+been madness to have again made an effort to get off.  All we could do,
+therefore, was to haul our sorely battered boat out of the reach of the
+surf and to collect the portion of our cargo washed up on the sands.
+
+Although it was tolerably hot we felt that we should be more comfortable
+than we were if we could shift our wet clothes.  The garments worn by
+the natives could assist us but little, seeing that most of them wore
+only somewhat narrow waist clothes.  They made us understand, however,
+that not far off we should find the house of a white man, who would
+perhaps afford us accommodation.  Why he had not yet hitherto made his
+appearance we could not tell, but we determined to visit him and claim
+his hospitality.  Led by the natives, we proceeded some distance along
+the beach when we came in sight of a hut, larger and more substantially
+built than the other habitations around.  Just inside a porch at the
+entrance of the hut, an old white man, dressed in shirt and trousers,
+with a broad-brimmed straw hat on his head, was seated in a roughly made
+easy-chair with his feet resting on the trellis-work before him.  A
+large wooden pipe was in his mouth, from which he was smoking lustily.
+He seemed scarcely to notice our approach, and when we addressed him he
+enquired in a gruff voice where we came from and what we wanted.  We
+told him what had happened, and asked him if he could give us shelter,
+and lend us some garments while our clothes were drying.
+
+"As to that, young gentlemen, you shall have a shirt and a pair of duck
+trousers apiece, and such food as there may happen to be in my
+store-house," he answered, seeing by our uniforms who we were.  "Your
+men shall be looked after also."
+
+We were soon seated round his cooking stove inside the house, rigged out
+in the garments he had provided while our own clothes were hung up to
+dry.  A native girl attended us, obeying with alacrity the old man's
+commands.  We supposed her to be his daughter, and spoke of her as such.
+
+"No, you are wrong in that, I have no child," he observed.  "She is my
+wife.  That," pointing to a thick stick which rested on a stool near
+him, "served as my marriage lines, it makes her as sharp and attentive
+as I can wish, and keeps her in good order."
+
+I had suspected from the appearance of the old fellow that he was a
+ruffian; I had now no doubt that he was a thorough one; and I felt sure
+that had he dared he would not have scrupled to hand us over to the
+natives should they by chance demand our lives.  A man-of-war in the
+offing, though she might be driven away for a few days, afforded us
+perfect security with such a character.
+
+At first he was not disposed to be communicative; he kept beating about
+the bush to ascertain apparently whether we knew anything about him, and
+had come to call him to account for any misdeeds of which he might have
+been conscious.  When he discovered that we were not even aware that a
+white man resided on the island, he opened out more freely.  I was
+curious to know something about him, and, concealing the opinion I had
+formed of his character, tried to induce him to talk of himself; that he
+was an old sailor I could see at a glance.
+
+"You were long at sea, I suppose," I observed.
+
+"First and last pretty nigh sixty years," he answered.
+
+"I was a small boy when I first ran off from home, and I never lived on
+shore many weeks together from that time up to within a few years ago.
+I have served on board every sort of craft afloat, and have seen a good
+many curious sights, as you may suppose."
+
+I resolved not to interrupt him, unless he should get a hitch in his
+yarn with which a question might help him through, so I let him run on,
+and, once having begun, he seemed nothing loth to allow his tongue full
+play.  Probably he had not had auditors who could understand him for
+many a long day.
+
+"The first craft I shipped aboard was bound for the coast of Africa.  In
+those days not a few vessels belonging to Liverpool were engaged in one
+way or another in the slave trade, either in supplying the slavers with
+goods, and stores, and provisions, or in actually running cargoes of
+blacks, which though the most profitable was a dangerous business to
+engage in.
+
+"I understood that we were to bring back gold dust and ivory, but
+instead of that we began to load with negroes, and soon had pretty nigh
+three hundred stowed away below hatches.  We had hoisted the Spanish
+flag, and had a Spanish captain, and fresh papers, for it was, I fancy,
+a hanging matter for an Englishman to command a slaver, though a few
+years back it had been all lawful and shipshape, but things change, you
+see, and what seems right one day is wrong the other.  We had to keep a
+bright look out for English cruisers, who were on the coast to put a
+stop to the business.
+
+"I heard some curious yarns of the way the slaves are taken.  Some
+powerful tribes make it a regular business, and attack their weaker
+neighbours for no other purpose than to capture them, and then to sell
+them to the slave dealers.  They generally steal on a village at night,
+surround and set fire to it, and seize all the inhabitants who rush from
+their huts to escape the flames.  Parties go out to pick up others
+wandering in the woods, or travelling from one place to another.  The
+inhabitants of the West Coast of Africa must have an uncomfortable life
+of it, I suspect.  With our living cargo on board we made sail for South
+America.
+
+"Before we were many leagues from the shore, an English man-of-war hove
+in sight.  Should we be taken we should not only lose the vessel and our
+expected profits, but it would go hard with the English part of the
+crew.  All knew that, and were ready to do anything to escape.  We made
+all sail, but for a wonder the British man-of-war was a fast craft, and
+soon began to overhaul us.  Our skipper, and most of the officers and
+crew, swore fearfully at the stranger, and some declared that sooner
+than be taken they would blow our vessel, with all the niggers on board,
+as well as the English cruiser, into the air.
+
+"I observed the captain and officers talking together, and there was a
+fierce determination in their looks which showed they meant what they
+said.  I had no fancy to be blown into the air, and was considering what
+I could do to save myself.
+
+"As the cruiser drew near I saw some of our men go below, and presently
+up they came with a black fellow.  They led him aft and lowered him
+overboard.
+
+"`Don't be frightened, all you have to do is to swim to yonder ship, and
+she will pick you up,' said the mate.
+
+"I don't fancy the negro understood him, still blacks are as fond of
+life as other people, and I saw him striking out boldly for the ship.
+He was seen.  The ship hove-to, a boat was lowered, and he was picked
+up.  Our people laughed at the success of the plan, for we had increased
+our distance from the enemy.
+
+"Evening was coming on.  The great thing was to keep ahead of her till
+darkness would allow us to alter our course without being perceived.
+
+"In a short time, as soon as we saw that the boat was hoisted up,
+another negro was hove overboard.  He was a strong swimmer, and struck
+out boldly.  He, too, was seen on board the man-of-war, and by another
+cruiser of the deep also, a huge shark.  The monster made towards him,
+he swam bravely on for his life, but it was of no avail.  Before long he
+disappeared, and I fancied I could hear the shriek he uttered, even at
+the distance he already was from us.
+
+"We should have sacrificed half our cargo rather than be taken as long
+as there appeared any probability of the man-of-war heaving-to to pick
+up the unfortunate wretches, but the breeze falling light, we had an
+advantage over the heavier vessel, and darkness coming on, we at length
+lost sight of her.  We immediately altered our course, knowing that she
+would do her best to fall in with us in the morning.  We escaped her,
+however, although we lost fifty or sixty blacks on the passage; that was
+a matter of no consequence, considering that we landed the greater
+portion and made a large profit by the venture.  Our success was so
+satisfactory that it was not long before we were again back on the
+coast, and as our craft was a remarkably fast one we managed again to
+escape the British cruisers.
+
+"We made altogether eight or ten trips, now and then we narrowly escaped
+capture, but we were too clever for our enemy, and they were not up to
+our various dodges.
+
+"I had by this time become well accustomed to the work, and, though at
+first it had gone somewhat against me to see the blacks dying by scores
+during the middle passage, yet now I saw them hove overboard with as
+little compunction as if they had been so many sheep.
+
+"We had a precious rough crew, about as villainous a set of cut-throats
+as well could be collected together.  It does not do for tender-hearted
+fellows to sail aboard a slaver.
+
+"I had meantime grown into a big stout lad, and could hold my own
+against any of them.
+
+"How it was I don't know, but I should not have liked at that time to
+have done the things that some of them did.  We had a black cook aboard,
+whether or not sitting before a hot fire had softened his heart, I
+cannot tell, but he was not as bad as the rest; he had consequently a
+hard life of it amongst them.  One day he was detected by the mate
+carrying a mess below to some of the sick blacks, they were people of
+his own tribe, and I suspect relations.  The mate swore that he intended
+to raise a mutiny among them, it may be to let them loose to murder us
+all.  Poor Sambo declared that he had no thoughts of doing anything of
+the sort, but that the people were ill, and that he hoped what he gave
+them would do them good and save their lives.  He was a sensible fellow,
+and must have known that from where we were, about mid-channel, they
+could never have found their way back again to the coast of Africa, and
+that if they had murdered the crew they themselves must also have
+perished.  The captain and mate would not hear his excuses, and began
+belabouring him with thick cudgels till they had nearly knocked the
+breath out of his body.  I felt very indignant, for black though he was
+I had a liking for the man, and determined to speak out.
+
+"`I tell you what, Ringdon, if you don't belay your jaw-tackles you will
+be treated in the same way!' exclaimed the captain, turning on me.
+
+"`Sambo had no bad intentions, I will answer for that,' I cried out.
+`If any of us were sick and dying we should expect one of our
+countrymen, if he had the means, to help us, and I don't see that Sambo
+intended to do more than that.'  Sambo gave me a glance, as much as to
+say if I have the chance I'll render you a service some day; and,
+bobbing his head, as the mate made another blow at him, escaped forward.
+The two then turned on me, and I thought were going to try their
+cudgels on my head.  I stood up boldly and faced them.
+
+"`Now,' I asked, `what have you got to say to me?'
+
+"`Look out for squalls, Master Boas, that's all,' growled the mate.
+
+"`You will some day wish that you had kept your opinions to yourself,'
+said the captain, but neither he nor the mate ventured to strike me.  I
+turned round and walked forward, leaving the two talking together.  I
+was sure by the glances they cast at me that they meant mischief, so I
+determined to be on my guard.
+
+"Several days passed away, and things went on much as usual.  Sambo got
+many a kick and cuff from the captain and mate when he could not help
+coming near them, but he kept out of their way as much as he could
+within the caboose, and cooked our meals without uttering a complaint.
+
+"I had heard say that the pitcher which often goes to the well gets
+broken at last, and I could not help fancying, notwithstanding our long
+run of success, that such would be the fate of the slaver.
+
+"Perhaps the owners thought the same, for we had received orders to
+proceed round the Cape to the East Coast of Africa, where the Portuguese
+slave dealers had agreed to supply us with a cargo--that coast at the
+time being less watched by the English cruisers.
+
+"We were some way off the Cape, on our passage eastward, when, while it
+was blowing hard and a pretty heavy sea was running, I fell from aloft.
+I had been a good swimmer from my boyhood, and when I came to the
+surface I struck out for my life, expecting to see the schooner heave to
+and lower a boat to pick me up.  Instead of her doing so, what was my
+horror and dismay to observe that she was standing away from me.  I
+caught sight of the captain and mate on the poop, and by the looks they
+cast at me I felt sure that they intended to leave me to my fate.  I
+shouted loudly to them, asking if they were going to allow a
+fellow-creature to perish.  Again and again I cried out, doing my utmost
+to keep my head above the foaming seas.
+
+"A number of huge albatrosses had been following the vessel, sweeping
+round and round her, now soaring upwards, now plunging down into the
+waters to pick up anything which had fallen overboard.  You may fancy my
+dismay when I found that instead of chasing the vessel as before, they
+were gathering round my head.  Every moment I expected to see them
+darting down towards me, and I knew that a blow from one of their sharp
+beaks would have easily pierced my skull and struck me lifeless in a
+moment.  Nearer and nearer they drew.  I could distinguish their keen
+eyes watching me, and had I remained quiet for a moment I felt convinced
+that they would have dashed at me.  I continued, therefore, striking out
+with my feet and beating the water with my hands, which I lifted up as
+often as they came near to keep them at bay.  Still I knew full well
+that the struggle must soon cease, for I could not possibly much longer
+exert myself as I was then doing.  I had had very little enjoyment in
+life, but yet I had no wish to go out of it; my hopes of escape,
+however, were small indeed; the only chance I could see was that the
+crew, indignant that one of their number should be left to perish, would
+insist on the captain heaving-to, and would lower a boat to come to my
+rescue.
+
+"Further and further the vessel sailed away from me.  I was beginning at
+last to think that I should be left to perish, when a hail reached my
+ears, and I saw about midway between myself and the vessel, a black head
+rising above the foaming seas.  I shouted in return, and redoubled my
+efforts to keep the albatrosses at a distance, while I struck out to
+meet my friend, whom I recognised as Sambo the black cook.  I found that
+he was towing after him a spar, which, though it had impeded his
+progress, would support us both.  I was soon up to him.
+
+"`Neber fear, Boas, my son!' he cried out as he assisted me on the spar,
+`we better here dan in slave ship.'  I could not see that exactly,
+though I thanked him for risking his life to save mine.  `Risk not so
+great as you tink,' he answered, `I make out big ship, she steering dis
+way when I was aloft, and she soon come and pick us up.'
+
+"I hoped that he was right, but still it was very likely that we should
+not be seen; if so he would lose his life as I should mine.  I told him
+I was very sorry that he should do that.
+
+"`Neber fear, Boas,' he answered.  `Nothing bery sweet in life for me.
+You saved my head from de blows of the captain and mate, I save your
+life or die wid you.'
+
+"We could not talk much however.  On his way he had picked up a couple
+of pieces of wood, and armed with these we were able to drive the
+albatrosses off.  They are cowardly birds, and when they found that we
+were living men and not pieces of offal, they left us alone and flew
+after the schooner.
+
+"The time went slowly by, but at last I could distinguish the sail of a
+ship rising above the horizon.  She was standing towards us; of that I
+felt certain, so did Sambo.  This enabled us to keep up our spirits.  We
+watched her narrowly, her topsails, then her courses appeared, at length
+her hull itself came in sight, and we made out that she was a frigate,
+probably English.  I was inclined to curse my fate, for one of the
+things I dreaded most was having to serve on board a man-of-war.  Once
+or twice I felt almost inclined to let go, but Sambo laughed at my
+fears.
+
+"`Can't be worse off dan on board slaver, and you better live, and den
+when we have a chance we may run from de ship.'
+
+"His arguments prevailed, and once when it seemed to me she was altering
+her course, I began to fear that after all we might not be seen.
+However, as it was, she stood directly for us, and passed within a half
+a cable's length of where we floated on the spar.  We shouted together,
+she immediately hove-to, and a boat being lowered we were picked up and
+taken on board.  She was an English frigate bound out to the East
+Indies.  We had not thought of agreeing to any story, and therefore when
+we were questioned as to the character of the craft ahead of us, we had
+nothing to do but to tell the truth.  I could not help hoping that the
+schooner would be overtaken, when we should be amply revenged, but
+before we could get up with her night came on.  The next morning she was
+nowhere to be seen.
+
+"I had heard enough about men-of-war to make me expect pretty rough
+treatment.  Things, I must own, were not so bad as I thought.  I had no
+choice but to enter as one of her crew.  Sambo did the same, and was
+rated as cook's mate.  He seemed much happier than before, and told me
+it was the luckiest thing that ever happened to him in his life.  When
+we got out to Bombay, the first place we touched at, I asked him about
+running from the ship.  `Don't be a fool, Boas,' he answered; `you stay
+where you are; you only fall from de frying-pan into de fire if you
+attempt to run.'
+
+"I still, however, thought that I would try it some day, but so sharp a
+look-out was kept whenever we were in port, that I gave it up as
+hopeless.
+
+"Four years passed away.  We had a few brushes with the Chinese and some
+boat service in looking after pirates, and at length the frigate was
+ordered home.  I had had a taste of the lash more than once for getting
+drunk, and had been put in irons for insubordination, and had no mind to
+join another man-of-war if I could help it.
+
+"As soon as the frigate was paid off, after I had had a spree on shore,
+I determined to make my way to Liverpool and ship on board another
+trader.  I tried to persuade Sambo to accompany me.  `No, no, Boas, I
+know when I well off; I serve my time, den bear up for Greenwich, get
+pension and live like a gentlemen to the end of my days.  You knock
+about de world, get kicked and cuffed and die like a dog.'
+
+"I felt very angry and parted from him, though I could not help thinking
+that perhaps he was right.
+
+"Well, after that I served on board several merchantmen, now sailing to
+the West Indies, now to the East, once in a fruit vessel to the Azores,
+and two or three times up the Mediterranean.  I was wrecked more than
+once, and another time the ship I was on board was burnt, and I and
+three or four others of the crew escaped in one of the boats.  I could
+not help thinking sometimes of what Sambo had said to me, but it was too
+late now, and as I had not saved a farthing and had no pension to fall
+back on, I was obliged to continue at sea.
+
+"I had found my way once more back to Liverpool, when the crimps, who
+had got hold of me, shipped me on board a vessel while I was drunk, and
+I was hoisted up the side not knowing where I was nor where I was going
+to till next day, when the pilot having left us, we were standing down
+the Irish Channel.  I then found that I was on board a large armed brig,
+the `Seagull,' bound out round Cape Horn to trade along the coast of
+Chili and Peru.
+
+"I had sailed with a good many hard-fisted skippers and rough shipmates,
+but the captain and mates and crew of the `Seagull' beat them all.  The
+mates had ropes' ends in their hands from morning to night, and to have
+marling-spikes hove at our heads was nothing uncommon.  I had been at
+sea, however, too long not to know how to hold my own.  My fists were
+always ready, and I kept my sheath-knife pretty sharp as a sign to the
+others that I would have no tricks played with me.  But the boys among
+us did have a cruel life of it; one of them jumped overboard and drowned
+himself, and so would another, but the captain had him triced up and
+gave him two dozen, and swore he should have three the next time he made
+the attempt.
+
+
+"We had a long passage.  I have a notion that the skipper was no great
+navigator.  I have seen tall large-whiskered fellows like him who could
+talk big on shore prove but sorry seamen after all.
+
+"After trying for a couple of weeks to get round Cape Horn we were
+driven back, and being short of water, the captain, by the advice of the
+second mate, who had been there before, determined to run through the
+Straits of Magellan.  We had been two days without a drop of water on
+board when we managed to get into a harbour in Terra del Fuego.  We lost
+no time in going on shore in search of water to pour down our thirsty
+throats.  Scarcely had we landed than we caught sight of a party of the
+strangest-looking black fellows I ever set eyes on.  Talk of savages,
+they were indeed savages by their looks and manners--hideous looking
+little chaps with long black hair and scarcely a stitch of clothing on
+their bodies.  We had muskets in our hands, the use of which they, I
+suppose, knew, for they behaved in a friendly manner, and when we made
+them understand that we wanted water, they took us to a pool into which
+a stream fell coming down from the mountain, where we could fill our
+casks and roll them back to the boats.  As soon as we caught sight of it
+we rushed forward, and dipping down our heads drank till we were nigh
+ready to burst.  I thought that I had never tasted such water before.
+Had the savages been inclined they might have taken the opportunity of
+knocking us on the head, but they didn't.  After we had loaded the boat,
+some of us walked on with them to their village, which was not far off.
+I cannot say much for their style of building.  Their huts were just a
+number of sticks run into the ground, and tied at the top in the shape
+of a sugar-loaf--branches were interwoven between the sticks, and the
+whole was covered with dry grass.  A few bundles of grass scattered
+about on the ground was their only furniture.  These people, as far as
+you could see the colour of their skin through the dirt, were of a dark,
+coppery brown.  The women were as dark and ill-looking as the men, but
+they were strong little creatures, and, as well as we could judge, did
+all the work.
+
+"The men had bows and arrows and spears and slings.  They had among them
+a number of little fox-like looking dogs, savage, surly brutes, which
+barked and yelped as we came near them.  They were almost as ugly as
+their masters, but ugly as they were, they were clever creatures, for we
+saw them assist to catch fish in a curious fashion.  A number of the
+little brutes swam out to a distance, and then, forming a circle, turned
+towards the shore, splashing the water and yelping as they came on.
+They were driving before them a whole shoal of fish towards the net
+which the Fuegeans had spread at the mouth of, a creek.  As soon as the
+fish got into shallow water, where they were kept by the dogs, the
+savages rushed in with their spears, and stuck them through, or shot
+them with their arrows.  In this way, by the help of the dogs, a number
+were caught.  The dogs also are used to catch birds.  This they do while
+the birds are sleeping, and so noiselessly do they spring upon them,
+that they can carry off one after the other without disturbing the rest,
+when they bring them to their masters.  Useful as they are, the dogs get
+hardly treated, being constantly cuffed and beaten, and never getting
+even a mouthful of food thrown to them.  They know, however, how to
+forage for themselves, and will take to the water and catch fish or
+pounce down upon birds whenever they are hungry.
+
+"Savage as these people are, they can build canoes for themselves,
+sometimes of birch bark, and sometimes they hollow out the trunks of
+trees by fire.  They make them in different parts, which they sew
+together with thongs of raw hide, so that when they wish to shift their
+quarters, they can carry their canoes overland.
+
+"They have got some stones in their country which give out sparks, and
+they use a dry fungus as tinder, so that they can quickly make a fire.
+
+"As to cooking, their only notion is to make a fire, heat some stones,
+and put their food in among them.
+
+"They are about the dirtiest people I ever fell in with; and all the
+time we were among them we never saw any of them washing themselves.
+
+"In summer, when they can get fish and seals, which they catch with
+their spears, they have plenty of food.  In winter, they are often on
+short commons.  We heard it said that when it has been blowing too hard
+for them to go on the water, and they can catch neither fish nor seals,
+they are given to eat their old women, who they say can be of no further
+use, instead of killing their dogs, which they know will be of service
+to them when the summer again comes round.
+
+"While we were on their coast, a whale was stranded near the mouth of
+the harbour.  The news spread, and canoes were seen coming from all
+directions.  In a short time the canoes gathered round the body of the
+monster, and the little coppery-coloured chaps were soon hard at work
+cutting off the blubber with their shell knives.  The water was shallow
+between where the whale lay and the shore, and when one of the little
+fellows had cut off a large piece of blubber, he made a hole in the
+middle, through which he put his head, and thus brought his cargo to
+land, generally munching a piece of the raw fat on his way.
+
+"The most curious things we saw were masses of stuff growing on the
+beech trees, of a red colour, something like mushrooms.  Though this
+stuff has no taste, the people were very fond of it, and, for my part, I
+preferred it to raw whale-blubber.
+
+"Having replenished our stock of water and wood, we made our way
+westward, sailing only during the day, and keeping the lead going.  We
+were glad, however, to get clear of those high rocky shores, and the
+snow-storms which frequently came down on us.  We kept away from the
+land for some time, and made it again not far from the town of Callao on
+the coast of Peru.
+
+"The captain's manner didn't improve during the passage.  Half his time
+he was drunk, and he was never on deck but that he was cursing and
+swearing at the crew, rope-ending every one who came within his reach.
+I could not help wishing that I had followed Sambo's advice and stuck to
+the navy; though there was flogging enough at times when men would get
+drunk, still there was something like justice.  A man had only to be
+sober and keep a quiet tongue in his head, and he need have no fear of
+the cat.  On board the `Seagull,' a man had reason to think himself
+fortunate if he escaped without a cracked skull.  It was easy to tell
+what the fate of the brig would be, and I resolved to run from her on
+the first opportunity.
+
+"Though we made the land in the forenoon, we were still at a
+considerable distance from it when the sun went down.  We, therefore,
+after standing on for some time, hove-to, hoping to enter the harbour of
+Callao the next day.  When morning broke we could see the snow-capped
+tops of the Cordilleras rising up in the far distance, but still the
+lower land appeared a long way off.
+
+"We had to wait till the sea breeze set in, and it was nearly nightfall
+before we came to an anchor off Callao.
+
+"It is the chief port of Peru, a short distance from Lima, the capital.
+As the captain expected to get rid of a good part of his cargo, I knew
+that the brig would remain some time.  I, however, didn't wish to lose a
+moment in getting free of her.  As soon as the anchor was dropped, I
+watched my opportunity for a run.  I intended, if possible, to escape in
+a shore boat, when there would be less chance of being traced.  That
+night, however, only the Custom House and health boats came off to us.
+I had to wait, therefore, the whole of the next day.  I could not help
+fancying that the first mate suspected my intention, and was watching
+me.  I showed myself, therefore, more active and attentive to the work I
+had to do than usual.
+
+"A number of boats during the day came off to us with fresh provisions,
+especially all sorts of fruits.  To throw the mate off his guard, while
+I saw that he was looking towards me, I bought some fruit; at the same
+time I tried to make the Chilian understand that if he would come again
+in the evening I would buy more of him.  I then began eating some of the
+fruit and carried the rest below.  After this the mate seemed to take no
+more pains to keep an eye on me.
+
+"My friend returned just before sunset.  I told him to hand me up some
+of the fruit, and paid him for it, letting him understand that if he
+would wait a little, and I liked what he had brought, I would take some
+more.  It rapidly grew dark, and I returned on deck with a melon under
+my arm, which I pretended was rotten, and intended to have changed.
+Seeing the boat still alongside, holding the melon I slipped down into
+her, and was followed by the owner, who had been trying to sell more
+fruit on deck.  Sitting by him, I began to talk in my fashion, and when
+no one was looking slipped a dollar into his hand and pointed to the
+shore.  He at once nodded to show that he understood me.  We waited, and
+I pretended to be bargaining about the melon while it grew darker and
+darker, and then when no one was looking over the side, lay down among
+the fruit baskets, pulling some of them over me.  My friend continued to
+remain alongside, and I daresay if anyone had enquired for me, he would
+have handed me back, but as good luck would have it, I was not missed,
+and at last, he and his men shoved off and began to paddle towards the
+shore.  Even then I did not feel safe, for I feared that the mate might
+miss me and send a boat to overhaul all the shore boats which had
+visited the brig, and I knew if I fell into the captain's hands, he
+would clap me into irons and keep me there till we were at sea again.
+
+"After we got some distance, the Peruvian crew began to pull faster.  At
+length we reached the shore.  The master, when we landed, shook my hand,
+to show that he intended to be my friend, and led me away to his house,
+which was at some distance from the shore.  I made him understand that I
+did not wish to go back to the ship.  He replied that it would be safer
+for me at once to go into the interior, where the captain would not
+think of looking for me.  I saw the sense of this, and after I had had
+some supper we set out.  I gave my friend another dollar, which pleased
+him mightily, and I told him by signs that I was ready to work in his
+garden, or anything of that sort on shore, not that I at any time had a
+fancy for digging.
+
+"We travelled for some hours on muleback, till we reached a farm on the
+side of a mountain.  I found that it belonged to my friend's brother.
+After matters had been explained to him he received me very kindly, and
+I was soon at home in his house.  I helped him about the place as I had
+promised, and had a tolerably easy life of it; for though I worked twice
+as hard as anyone else, that was not much, seeing that the Spaniards are
+not addicted to over-tire themselves.  My host had a daughter, though I
+cannot say much for her beauty, for she had a dark skin, and was short
+and fat, but she took a fancy to me, and so thinking I could not do
+better, I offered to splice her.  Her father, who was glad to get me to
+assist him, and wished to keep me, consented.
+
+"Accordingly, we were married in the church they went to.  The priest
+asked me if I was a Catholic, and I said I was ready to be anything he
+liked, on which he replied he would soon make me one.  There was a grand
+festival, and a number of priests and people collected, and they took me
+in among them and made the sign of the cross upon me, and so I was
+turned into a Catholic.  I suppose that I was a very good one, for I
+used to attend church with my wife and go to confession to the priest,
+though as I told him all my sins in English, not a word of which he
+understood, he could not have been much the wiser; but that, I suppose,
+didn't matter, as he absolved me notwithstanding.  I was thus looked
+upon with great respect by our neighbours, and got on very well with my
+wife."
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+"I had been a good many months in the place when my father-in-law,
+thinking I was securely moored, began to give me more and more work,
+which I didn't like.  However, I lived on pretty contentedly, but still
+I had a wish for a sniff of the sea air, and to feel myself once more on
+the moving ocean; not, to be sure, that I had not felt the ground move
+under me, for we had had two or three earthquakes, when not a few houses
+had been thrown down, and the ground tumbled and tossed, and here and
+there opened, as if ready to swallow us up.
+
+"I took French leave of my wife, for I was afraid she would stop me; but
+when I reached Callao I sent word to her by her uncle that I hoped to be
+back soon, after I had collected no end of dollars to buy her a new
+dress, and keep the pot boiling.
+
+"I hadn't made up my mind what to do when I saw a whaler in the harbour.
+I thought if she was likely to remain in the Pacific for some time, and
+she wanted hands, I would make a trip in her, on condition that I was to
+be landed at Callao before she returned home.
+
+"She was an American, only out a few months, and having lost several
+hands, the captain was very glad to get me.  I hadn't been long on board
+before I began to wish myself back with my wife.  It was much harder
+work than I expected, especially when we got into the southern ocean
+among the icebergs.  Those spermaceti whales, too, are savage monsters,
+and will often turn on a boat and try to capsize her.
+
+"I was pretty well nigh losing my life on one of those occasions as
+several of my shipmates did theirs.  We had chased a big bottle-nose
+right up to an iceberg, and had stuck two harpoons into his back when he
+sounded.  He was making for the berg, we thought, and if he got under it
+we should have to cut the lines, and lose him and the harpoons.
+Presently the lines slackened, we hauled in upon them, when suddenly up
+he came not half a cable's length from us, blowing away with all his
+might.  We dashed on, when round he turned, and with open mouth came
+towards us.
+
+"`Back all,' was the cry, but before we could get out of his way he
+struck the bow of the boat with his nose, sending it up in the air, and
+jerking several of us overboard.  The next moment with his huge jaws he
+made a grab at the boat.  Seizing a stretcher I sprang as far as I could
+out of his way, and struck out for my life.  The shrieks of my shipmates
+and the cracking of the ribs and timbers of the boat sounded in my ears,
+but I had enough to do to take care of myself, even to turn my head for
+a moment.  I swam on as fast as I could.  Fortunately for me, the
+accident had been seen from the ship, and another boat was coming to our
+assistance.  It's a wonder the savage whale didn't attack her, but
+probably he had had enough of it, while the harpoons in his back must
+have troubled him not a little.  I was soon picked up, and two others
+were found floating, but the rest of the boat's crew had either sunk or
+been crunched to death between the whale's jaws.  He had been watched
+from the ship, which made sail in the direction he had taken.  In the
+evening a spout was seen in the distance, the boat shoved off, and
+before nightfall we had the very whale which had attacked us in the
+morning, fast alongside with tackles hooked on, and the blanket pieces,
+as we called the blubber, being hoisted on board.
+
+"That trying-out is curious work to those who have never seen it.  Along
+the decks were the huge tripods, with fires blazing under them, and the
+crew standing round begrimed with smoke and oil, putting in the blubber,
+while others, as soon as the oil was extracted, were filling the casks
+and stowing them below.  All night long the work went on, and there was
+no stopping till the huge monster had been stripped of his warm coat,
+and we had bailed the oil out of its big head, which had meantime been
+made fast to the stern.
+
+"`Dollars are pleasant things to pick up, but I must find some
+pleasanter way for gathering them than this,' I said to myself.
+However, for more than two years I hadn't a chance of returning to
+Callao.  When at last the whaler put in there and landed me, I found
+that an earthquake had occurred, and the ground opened and swallowed up
+my father-in-law, and my wife with all her family.  My wife's uncle,
+however, had escaped, and he received me very kindly, and more so that,
+as I had made a good voyage in the whaler, my pockets were full of
+dollars.  They, however, went at last.
+
+"One day I was thinking what I should do next, when he told me that
+several vessels were fitting out in the harbour, to make a cruise among
+the islands of the Pacific, just to pick up some labourers for the
+mines.  `It's pretty hard work up in the mountains there, and most of
+our native Peruvians who used to work in them have died out,' he
+observed.  `There's a merchant in our city who is going to make a grand
+speculation, and as Englishmen have shares in most of the mines, of
+course he is assisted with English capital, which our country could not
+supply.  Now if you like to ship on board one of these vessels, you will
+find the pay good, the voyage short, and but little risk.'
+
+"I thought to myself that I could not do better.  I had served too long
+on board a slaver to think much of the work proposed.  There was no
+difference that I could see between a black skin and a brown skin, and
+as I had assisted to carry some thousands of black men across to the
+east coast of America, I did not scruple to undertake to carry as many
+brown men as could be picked up to the west coast.  To be sure, the
+natives of those bright and sunny islands, unaccustomed to work, might
+not find it very pleasant to be carried away to labour high up among the
+rocks and snows of the Andes, but that was no business of mine.
+
+"I accordingly shipped on board one of several vessels fitted out by the
+enterprising merchant I spoke of.  The `Andorinha' carried thirty hands
+besides the captain and mate, and we had four guns and plenty of small
+arms.  Our orders were to proceed direct to the nearest islands, and to
+carry off as many of the inhabitants as we could get on board, but we
+were to try stratagem first, and by every means in our power induce them
+to, visit the ship.  As soon as we had collected as many as we were
+likely to entice on board, we were to put them below and shut down the
+hatches, and sail away with them.
+
+"The plan was simple, and I thought it would succeed.  Should they
+object to make the voyage and attempt to regain their liberty, we had
+our arms, and were to use them, but we were advised not to kill more
+people than we could help, as each was likely to fetch fifty or sixty
+dollars on shore.
+
+"Before sailing, the merchant who had fitted out our vessel came on
+board with several friends, and the crew being called on deck, he
+addressed the captain and us, telling us that we were about to engage in
+an enterprise likely to prove of great value to Peru, but all was to be
+done by fair and honourable means.  That we were to visit various
+islands, and to engage the industrious inhabitants to come and labour in
+our beautiful country for good wages, where they would also have the
+benefit of being instructed in the Christian faith and become good
+Catholics, to the great advantage of their souls.  We were to treat them
+kindly and gently, and to give them the best of everything, so that they
+would not fail, by their gratitude, to show how highly they valued the
+service we should render them.
+
+"I could not help grinning when I heard this, knowing the way that
+matters were really to be managed.  The speech was made just to hoodwink
+the authorities, and for the benefit of the merchant's friends, who, if
+they were not to profit by the adventure, might have found some fault
+with the way in which it was really to be carried on.
+
+"The `Andorinha' was a large vessel, and we calculated that we could
+stow away five or six hundred people on board her.
+
+"Seven other vessels being fitted out, we sailed together in company,
+our first destination being Easter Island, which lies in latitude 27
+degrees South and 109 degrees West, some distance from the coast of
+Chili.
+
+"Light winds detained us, but at length we made the island, which is
+high and rocky and about thirty-six miles in circumference.  The
+inhabitants, of the same race as the rest of the Eastern Pacific, and
+somewhat less savage than most of them, were living in villages, at
+peace among themselves.
+
+"As soon as our fleet came to an anchor, the boats were lowered and
+manned, and a strong party of us landed.  The inhabitants, not liking
+our appearance, hid themselves in their houses.  We immediately marched
+to the nearest village, which we surrounded, and entering house after
+house, dragged off the people, and sent them, with their hands bound
+behind their backs, to the boats.  They did not attempt to resist, for
+as we had firearms and they had none, it would have been of no use.  As
+soon as the boats were loaded they took them off to the vessel, and then
+returned for more.  We, meantime, kept watching the village, so that no
+one could escape.  Having carried off all the inhabitants, men, women,
+and children--for even the youngest children were of some use to us--we
+proceeded to the next village.  These we treated in the same way,
+leaving a few old men and women who were not worth carrying off.
+
+"Before evening we had shipped nearly every human being we found on the
+island.  None escaped us, for they had no mountains to fly to, and no
+caves or other places where they could hide themselves.  We then
+collected all the pigs, poultry, and such other provisions as we could
+find, and sent them on board.
+
+"Before returning to our vessels, we burned down a considerable number
+of the houses.
+
+"We stowed away all our captives on board two of our larger vessels,
+which at once returned to land them on the coast of Chili, while we
+proceeded on our voyage.
+
+"The first land we made was one of the Society Islands, to the north of
+Tahiti.  We could not venture to that island itself, because the French
+were there, who might have objected to our carrying off the people.  For
+the same reason we avoided the Hervey, and other islands to the south,
+where we knew a number of English missionaries were stationed, and they
+might have complained of our proceedings, and taken means to put a stop
+to them.  Here, however, we hoped to make a good haul, and be away
+before we were discovered.
+
+"The schooner did not bring up, but stood off and on the land under
+English colours, while a boat was sent on shore to invite the natives on
+board.  I went in her.  As soon as we landed, I, with another man, who
+pretended to be the supercargo, proceeded to the house of the principal
+chief.  It was a large hut, the framework formed of slight poles placed
+at intervals, bending somewhat inwards, and joined with horizontal poles
+of the same thickness secured to them, the whole being covered with a
+neat thatch.  We found the chief reclining at his ease on one of several
+mats which covered the floor, with his wife and other females of the
+family seated near him.  He had thrown aside his robe of native cloth,
+and was dressed only in his maro or girdle round his waist.  We told him
+that the vessel in the offing was an English trader, and had on board a
+quantity of goods which were likely to suit him and his people, and we
+invited him, and as many as he liked to bring with him, to come and
+inspect them, hinting that the captain was of a generous disposition,
+and would be glad, at all events, to make them presents to gain their
+good will.  We were in no hurry, we said, for payment, and would call
+again for the cocoa-nut oil which he might agree to collect for us.  He
+seemed mightily pleased with the proposal, and promised to come off the
+next morning.  We then went to the house of other chiefs and principal
+people, telling them the same tale.
+
+"In our rambles we saw a curious spectacle.  Having reached another
+district governed by a different chief, we found him seated on a mat in
+front of his house, while a number of people were approaching bearing
+hogs, and fowls, and breadfruit, and other articles of food.  Among them
+were three young women, whose bodies were swathed in a prodigious
+quantity of native cloth made out of the paper mulberry tree.  This
+cloth and the food were being brought as presents to the chief, who had
+had, we understood, a child just born to him by one of his wives.  How
+the girls could ever have got the cloth round them was a puzzle to me,
+but my companion, who had been on these islands and acted as
+interpreter, explained the matter.  He said that the cloth being made
+ready, the girl lies down on the ground and rolls herself over and over,
+till the whole of the cloth is wound round her.  She is then put on her
+feet, and taking the end over her shoulder, is able to proceed on her
+way.
+
+"The food having been presented, one of the damsels was led forward,
+when she lay down before the chief, and began to unroll herself, while
+one of his attendants gathered up the cloth; and thus she kept turning
+round and round till the whole of the cloth was unwound, and she
+remained in her own somewhat scanty garments.  The next girl went
+through the same process.
+
+"We pretended to be delighted with the cloth, and told the chief that,
+if he would bring it on board, we would exchange it for all sorts of
+articles.  The news of the rich cargo the vessel contained spread among
+the people, and large numbers promised to come off to us the following
+morning.
+
+"Well content with the way we had managed matters, we returned on board.
+
+"The following day we took care to stand in towards the shore in good
+time, when a number of canoes full of people were seen coming off to the
+ship.  As they arrived alongside we invited them on board, taking care
+that they brought no arms with them.  We had a few things spread out in
+the hold, and as the people collected on board, the captain asked them
+to step down below to see them.  When there, the pretended supercargo
+kept them engaged bargaining for the goods while others were arriving.
+Having collected all who could be induced to come on board below, the
+supercargo slipped up by the fore hatchway, saying that he wished to
+consult the captain about the price of some of the articles.  The
+vessel, meantime, had been edging off the land.  Our guns were loaded,
+and we had all armed ourselves in case the natives might make any
+resistance.  All being ready, we suddenly clapped the hatches down upon
+our visitors, and had them prisoners.  The people in some of the canoes
+suspecting that their friends were in danger, attempted to climb up the
+sides to their assistance.  We had, therefore, to sink the canoes by
+throwing cold shot into them.  As several other large canoes were
+approaching which might prove troublesome, we fired our guns at them and
+knocked them to pieces.  This done, we made all sail, and stood away
+from the island.  When the natives below found themselves entrapped,
+they, as may be supposed, created a considerable uproar, shouting and
+shrieking, and demanding to be set at liberty.  The hatches, however,
+being fast closed down, they could not force their way out, and as they
+were without food or water, and the air was pretty close, we knew that
+they must soon come to their senses, and therefore took no heed of their
+cries, though it was necessary, of course, to keep watch over them, lest
+by chance they might make their way out.
+
+"When we had run the land out of sight, the fore hatch was partly
+lifted, and a few at a time were allowed to come on deck.  They looked
+greatly astonished when gazing round to find that their native land was
+not to be seen.  Our interpreter then told them that, if they behaved
+themselves, things would go well with them; but if not, they must expect
+rough treatment.  The first which had come up had their hands lashed
+behind them, and were sent aft; and the rest, as they appeared on deck,
+were treated in the same manner.  Two or three, from the hot air and the
+struggles they had made, had lost their lives; but that mattered little,
+considering the number we had secured.
+
+"Having cleaned and fumigated the hold, they were again sent below, and
+we stood for another island.
+
+"Of course the people complained of the way they had been treated; some
+were weeping, others abusing us, while some refused to take the food we
+offered them.  They were told, however, that if they would not eat they
+should be flogged, for we were not going to allow them to starve
+themselves to death.  In time we got them into pretty good order.  As it
+would not do for them to give way to despair, they were assured that,
+after working two or three years in the country to which we were taking
+them, if they were industrious and behaved themselves, and consented to
+become good Catholics, they would be sent back to their native island
+much the richer and happier for the trip.  I don't know if they believed
+us; they might possibly have had doubts about the matter.  These people
+had had missionaries among them, and most of them were Christians; but
+the French had sent the missionaries away, and they had become somewhat
+slack in their religion.  Now, however, in their trouble they began to
+pray again, and it was curious to hear them singing, and praying, and
+repeating parts of the Bible which they had learned by heart.  Our
+interpreter said it made him somewhat uncomfortable; but the captain
+laughed at him, and told him that he must not let such notions trouble
+him, and that at best they were only heretics, and would now have the
+chance of becoming real Christians.
+
+"We touched at several other islands in the neighbourhood, from which
+canoes full of natives came off towards us to learn who we were, and
+what we wanted.  One canoe came alongside with an old chief, who
+inquired eagerly whether we had a missionary on board, as he was
+anxiously looking out for one who had promised to come and teach him and
+his people to be Christians.  The captain wanted the supercargo to pass
+as the expected missionary, but he declined, saying he could not bring
+his conscience to do it.  The captain replied that the missionary was
+sick below, but that if the chief and his followers would come up the
+side, they should see him in the cabin.
+
+"The savages looked very much surprised when they came on deck, to find
+themselves pinioned and handed down below.  Two of them before they were
+secured, attempted to leap overboard.  One was caught and the other was
+shot, their canoe being sunk alongside that she might not drift on shore
+and tell tales.  The people in some of the other canoes which came off
+further on were more wary, and we had to use a great deal of persuasion
+to induce them to trust us.  At last, we got one canoe full of natives
+to come near us.  As she approached on the port side, we had two of our
+boats lowered and manned ready on the starboard side.  When, after
+having in vain tried to get the people on deck, the boats pulled round,
+and though the savages shoved off, we were too quick for them.  There
+was a fierce struggle, two or three men were knocked overboard, but we
+captured the rest and quickly had them below hatches, while their
+canoes, as usual, were sent to the bottom.
+
+"We were not always so successful.  Three canoes, one day, were coming
+off to us, and were nearly up to the schooner, when they took alarm.  As
+the captain did not wish to lose them, he ordered the guns to be fired,
+which sank two of them, when the boats which were ready pulled away and
+picked up most of the people, excepting two or three who had been killed
+by the shot.  The third canoe escaped, and we knew after this, there was
+not much chance of getting any more canoes to come off to us from that
+island.
+
+"From this place we sailed away for several days, till we sighted a
+large coral island, with a lagoon in the centre, and numerous cocoa-nut
+trees growing along the shore.  We judged from this that it was
+inhabited.  We stood close in on the lee side, till we could distinguish
+some low huts scattered about under the trees, and a considerable number
+of natives scampering along the shore.  They were a savage-looking
+people, without a stitch of clothing, except belts round their waists,
+and bracelets and shells on their arms and legs, their hair, as they
+ran, streaming in the wind, while they shook their long thin lances at
+us.  As they had no canoes, we could not get them to come off to the
+vessel.  It was therefore necessary for us to land and try and catch
+some of them.  They looked so fierce and determined that we expected
+they would give us more trouble than the inhabitants of Easter Island
+had done.  Two boats well armed were, however, sent on shore to make the
+attempt.  We were to proceed by fair means and to offer them trinkets,
+knives, and glasses, and handkerchiefs.  If they would not be induced to
+trust us, we were to surround their village, and catch as many alive as
+we could.
+
+"As we pulled in for the shore, a party of the savages, led by an old
+chief, came leaping, shouting, and shrieking, and brandishing their
+spears towards us.  The chief was a terrible-looking old fellow, taller
+than any of the rest, with high cheek bones, his hair and beard of long
+grey hair plaited and twisted together, hanging from his head and around
+his mouth like so many rats' tails.  His companions imitated his
+example, and there seemed but little chance of our being able to get
+hold of any of them by peaceable means.  We had our muskets ready to
+bring them down should they come too near us.  We held up the trinkets,
+and handkerchiefs, and looking-glasses to try to make them understand
+that we wished to be friendly, but it was of no use; they only shrieked
+the louder and leapt the higher, and told us to be off, as they did not
+want us or our goods.  However, we remained steady, and they did not
+venture nearer.
+
+"As our object was to catch them alive, dead savages being of no use to
+us, we persevered.  Having placed several of the articles on the ground,
+we quietly retired to a distance, and at last we saw two or three of the
+younger men approach and take the things up.  They seemed well pleased
+with them, and showed them to the rest.  On this, we put some more on
+the ground and again retired, then three of our men putting their
+muskets on the ground advanced towards the savages, being well covered
+by the rest of us, and putting out their hands, we presented at the same
+time several more articles.  By these means we began to gain their
+confidence.  We then made them understand that all we wanted was a few
+cocoa-nuts, and that every man who brought one should be amply paid.  In
+this way after we had waited quietly on the beach, twenty young fellows
+were persuaded to put themselves within our reach, and to sit down in a
+circle near the boats.  The old chief all the time kept shouting to
+them, but they did not appear to heed him.  While one party with loaded
+muskets advanced towards the rest of the natives, we suddenly set upon
+the lads who had brought us the cocoa-nuts, knocked them over, had their
+arms pinioned, and they were carried to the boats before even their
+astonished countrymen could attempt to come to the rescue.  At last, led
+by the old chief, the former made a dash at our men who remained, when
+several were of necessity shot down, the rest taking to flight, and we
+shoved off well content with having captured twenty stout young fellows,
+who were likely to prove serviceable labourers at the mines.
+
+"Having at length got a full cargo, we returned to Easter Island, where
+we landed our captives.  There they were to remain under a strong guard
+till carried away by smaller vessels and landed on different parts of
+the coast of Peru.  We meantime sailed for the westward.
+
+"During the trip we occasionally fell in with our former consorts,
+engaged in the same business, and we found that they had succeeded in
+capturing a number of natives from different islands much in the same
+way that we had done.  Some were enticed on board by stratagem, others
+taken by force.  No one engaged in the business was particular as to
+what means were employed, provided they could succeed in the enterprise.
+One vessel had taken a whole cargo off one single island, known as High
+Island, the crew having landed and surrounded the villages one after
+another, shooting down all who resisted.
+
+"The wealthy merchant who had fitted out the vessel must have been
+highly satisfied, as must also the English shareholders who advanced him
+the money.  Possibly they may or may not have been fully aware of the
+means employed to ensure success.
+
+"Whether these people, accustomed to an easy and luxurious life on their
+sunny islands, would ultimately prove useful labourers in the dark
+mines, and be able to carry loads of ore down the steep, rocky sides of
+the mountains, I am not prepared to say.  Our business was to catch
+them--that of the merchant to sell them; while the overseers of the
+mines had to see to the rest.  If they died from hard work that was
+their look out.
+
+"At length we arrived off Niue, or Savage Island, to which Captain Cook
+gave that name because the inhabitants were then and for many years
+afterwards fierce and barbarous in the extreme.  Missionaries, both
+native and English, I had heard say, had gone among them, and the people
+had all become Christians and civilised.  We could see that a well-made
+road ran round the island, and at intervals there were white-washed
+cottages, with gardens full of flowers, and neat churches peeping out
+among the trees.
+
+"`These people,' the captain observed, `if we could get hold of them,
+were likely to prove mild and submissive, and of far more value than the
+savages we had taken from some of the other islands.'  It was necessary,
+however, to be cautious, or they might have suspected our intentions.
+
+"We hove-to off the island, and the supercargo going on shore inquired
+for the English missionary.  We found that his residence was on the
+other side, and we therefore judged that this would be a good place to
+carry on our operations.  The supercargo, pretending that he was a
+friend of the missionary, invited as many as were inclined to come off
+to the vessel, saying that he had a present for the missionary and a few
+trifles for the chiefs, and that he should also be glad to trade with
+them for any articles they might produce.
+
+"Meantime the other boats were in readiness with arms stowed away out of
+sight.  A large number of canoes at once paddled off to us, some
+containing ten, others four or five natives each.  The people came on
+board without hesitation, and while the captain kept them amused,
+showing some cases which he said contained the presents for the
+missionary and chiefs, bargaining for the few articles they had brought
+with them, the boats pushed away rapidly for the shore.  A large number
+of people were collected on the beach, but even when they saw the boats
+coming, not observing any arms in the hands of the men, they were in no
+way alarmed.  Their suspicions did not appear to be aroused, even when
+our men formed on the shore.
+
+"Keeping our weapons as much as possible concealed, we marched a little
+way inland, then suddenly wheeling, with a loud shout rushed down upon
+the natives.  They seemed utterly paralysed, and though some few fled,
+the greater number stared at us as if wondering what we were next going
+to do.  We did not leave them long in doubt, but pressing round them,
+tripped them over, bound their arms, and in a short time made sixty or
+more prisoners.  They offered little or no resistance, and we soon had
+all we had caught safely in the boat.  As we pulled towards the vessel
+we saw several canoes making for the shore, but with only two or three
+people in each, while her guns were playing on a few others which were
+attempting to escape.  We picked up several men who had jumped
+overboard, and when we got alongside we found that fully a hundred had
+been secured.  Altogether we got a hundred and sixty people from that
+island alone; some were old men, but most of them were young and active.
+They were all neatly dressed in shirts and trousers, and looked very
+intelligent indeed; there was not one among them who could not read in
+his native tongue, and they all said that they were Christians.  Our
+supercargo told them that so were we, but that we were real ones, while
+they, having only learned from the missionaries, were heretics.
+
+"As they might have proved troublesome, we clapped them all down below,
+and kept the hatches on them.
+
+"Wishing to capture more people from the same island, we immediately
+made sail, and stood along the coast, hoping to entice others on board
+before the news of what had occurred had spread.  We heard our prisoners
+talking together, and soon they began knocking at the hatches, and under
+the deck, and on the sides, shrieking to be let out, and entreating us
+to put them again on shore.  Two of our men were stationed at the
+hatchway ready to shoot any who might break out.  Still the people below
+continued to make so much noise that the captain and mate became
+enraged, and, with two other men, went below armed with boats'
+stretchers, and began to lay about them right and left, to bring the
+people to order.  At last they were quiet, and we hoped that they had
+learned a lesson they would not forget.  In the evening we heard them,
+instead of shouting and shrieking to be let out, singing hymns and
+praying.  Looking down into the hold, there we saw them all kneeling
+together as if in prayer; then an old man among them got up, and while
+they sat round him he began to speak to them, and the supercargo, who
+understood their language, said he was preaching; and when he had
+finished he stretched out his hands, and prayed to God to bless them.
+After that they were quiet enough, and during the night gave us no
+further trouble.
+
+"The next morning at daylight we stood in to another part of the coast.
+We saw several canoes quietly engaged in fishing, and so we guessed that
+the alarm had not spread thus far.  We accordingly stood close in, when
+several canoes came off to us.  The captain, as usual, invited the
+people on board.  Some of them spoke English, which the captain did not
+understand, and I was not inclined to answer them.  As they might have
+been alarmed had they seen armed men at the hatchway, those who had been
+stationed there were withdrawn.  The new arrivals spoke rather loudly to
+each other; their voices were heard by their countrymen below, who,
+making a sudden rush at the fore hatch, forced it off and sprang upon
+deck.
+
+"The alarm was given immediately; those who had last come, as well as
+our captives, began to leap overboard.  We all rushed upon them, knocked
+those we could catch down, and shut close the hatchway.  The captain
+then ordered us to fire on the people in the water swimming for the
+shore, while the boats were manned and sent in pursuit of the fugitives.
+Two or three were hit, some sank, and only a few succeeded in gaining
+one of the canoes; the rest were all retaken.  In the canoe which
+escaped was one young man who was shot just as he got into it: his
+companions, however, managed to paddle off.  Those who had been retaken
+were well beaten, and forced down below.
+
+"As there was no use remaining longer at Savage Island, we sailed for
+Samoa.
+
+"We avoided the principal harbours, and kept cruising along the coast,
+picking up several canoes which came off to us.  Occasionally we went on
+shore to obtain water and vegetables, always being on our guard lest our
+business might be suspected, and we ourselves entrapped.  At one place
+where we landed for this purpose, we found the natives under an old
+warrior chief preparing to attack a neighbouring tribe.  `This is just
+the opportunity for us,' observed our supercargo; `if we help the old
+chief, we may bargain that we are to have all the prisoners.'  The
+supercargo on this began to talk to the chief about the arms and men we
+possessed, and to hint that we might possibly be persuaded to assist him
+in conquering his enemies.  The old chief at once took the bait, and
+promised us anything we might ask if we would assist him.  The
+supercargo replied that our captain would be very moderate in his
+demands, and that we should be content if we might have all the
+prisoners.  We agreed to come on shore with ten men to help him.  The
+captain, however, had arranged to send all the boats, which were to keep
+in the rear of the enemy, and, as soon as the battle began, the crews
+were to land, and carry off as many warriors as they could lay hands on.
+
+"Early the next morning we landed with our muskets, and found the army
+drawn up for battle.  The warriors were armed with spears and short
+clubs, and their hair dressed up in the strangest fashion, and stuck
+full of feathers.  They were almost naked, with the exception of kilts
+round their waists.  We kept in the rear, ready to advance when called
+upon to act, and the warriors marched forward, singing songs and
+shouting their war-cries.  In a short time they came in front of the
+enemy, who were seen drawn up in a wood.  Both parties halted and began
+abusing each other, our friends telling their enemies that they were
+women, and would soon run away; and warning them that they only came to
+be killed, if they dared to advance further.  After this style of
+compliment had been exchanged for some time, they rushed towards each
+other grinning and making faces, when they once more halted, and began
+throwing their spears.  We on this advanced, and fired a volley, which
+threw them into the greatest confusion.  It was evidently totally
+unexpected, and, before they could recover, our friends rushed in on
+them, speared some and made others prisoners.  We, meantime, were
+loading, and, having done so, advanced and fired a second volley.  The
+enemy, though brave fellows, began to fly, when our friends dashed in
+among them, and, with our assistance, a large number were captured.
+Many of those who escaped were seized by the crews of the boats, and at
+once dragged off.  The victory was complete, and the old chief at once
+handed over to us all the prisoners he had taken.  This was an advantage
+to them, for they would otherwise have been killed.
+
+"By this means we collected about forty men, whom we carried at once on
+board.
+
+"`We may as well have some of our friends,' observed the supercargo, and
+he accordingly returned on shore to invite the old chief, and as many
+people as he chose to bring off to visit the ship, and receive some
+presents which he was told we had prepared for him.  The chief looked
+highly pleased, and much to the satisfaction of the supercargo, accepted
+his polite invitation.
+
+"Next morning the chief and several people came alongside.  The chief
+said he desired to thank us for the service we had rendered him, and to
+present us with some cocoa-nut oil and rolls of cloth which would be
+prepared in a day or two if we would wait for them.
+
+"The captain assured him of his friendship, and begged him to accept
+some presents in return for those he intended to make, and invited him
+and several of his principal attendants into the cabin to receive them,
+while his people were asked by the crew to go down forward.  No sooner
+were our guests below than they were seized and lashed hand and foot
+before they could give the alarm to those who remained on deck.  All
+hands then rushed on deck, and quickly knocked down the greater number
+of those who were collected there; a few uttering loud cries of terror
+leapt overboard, while those in the canoes, suspecting that something
+was wrong, shoved off, and began to paddle away towards the shore.  Our
+shot sent after them caused such alarm that several of the canoes
+returned, others escaped, two or three were knocked to pieces, and some
+of the people in them drowned.
+
+"We considered this a good haul, but we had some difficulty in keeping
+order between the new comers and their enemies whom we had before
+captured; by going among them, however, with our clubs, and showing them
+that we would stand no nonsense, we brought them into order.  Again
+making sail, we continued our course along the coast, here and there
+capturing canoes, and occasionally landing and carrying off a few
+people, though we were not again so successful as in the case I have
+described.
+
+"In one small canoe we found a Portuguese with two Samoaians; the latter
+we put below hatches, but the captain was afraid of detaining the white
+man, who declined joining us, and allowed him to make the best of his
+way to shore.
+
+"We found two of our consorts cruising off this coast, but in a short
+time the suspicions of the people on shore were aroused, and we
+therefore left it and proceeded on to visit certain groups of islands
+lying 8 or 10 degrees south of the equator.  From one of these islands
+we got nearly a hundred people, and another vessel which followed us
+captured several more, though most of the natives as soon as a sail hove
+in sight ran off from the coast.
+
+"By various means, from one island or another, we captured fifty or
+sixty more, till at length with a full cargo we steered eastward to put
+them on shore, as before, on Easter Island.
+
+"Some disagreeable news met us here.  We heard that the French
+authorities at Tahiti were very indignant at our having carried off the
+natives of islands under their protection, and that they had sent out
+several cruisers to intercept us.  One of our vessels, the `Mercedes,'
+had been seized with a hundred and fifty natives on board.  The vessel
+had been condemned and sold, the captain sentenced to five years' penal
+servitude, and the supercargo to ten.  Besides her four or five other
+vessels had been captured and carried into Tahiti, where they were
+detained.  One, having been taken without any natives, was allowed to
+return to Callao after she had been compelled to dispose of all her rice
+and other provisions, so as to make it impossible for her to proceed on
+her voyage.  Besides this, the French Governor of Tahiti had sent to the
+Peruvian Government demanding that every native who had been taken from
+islands under French protection should be delivered up, and heavy
+damages paid for any who might be missing.  However, as these formed but
+a very small number of the natives captured, the matter in itself was
+not of much consequence.  The fear was that not only the French but the
+English might send out cruisers and interfere in all directions with our
+proceedings.  The profit, however, and the demand for labour was so
+great, that in spite of the difficulties to be encountered, the merchant
+I spoke of resolved to persevere in the undertaking, although it would
+be necessary to use even greater precautions than before.
+
+"This first voyage will give you an idea of two or three others which I
+made shortly afterwards, when we collected our passengers much in the
+same way as before, though we took care only to visit islands the least
+frequented by European vessels, so that our proceedings might be kept as
+secret as possible.
+
+"Ill luck, however, at length set against us.  Some of our vessels were
+wrecked, the natives rose and murdered the crew of one, the French
+captured several more, and the Peruvian government, compelled to listen
+to the complaints which were made, interfered, and considerable
+difficulties were thrown in the way of landing the islanders.  The
+`Andorinha,' after her long career of success, was driven on a coral
+reef, when the captain and supercargo and most of the crew perished.  I
+was washed on shore, more dead than alive.  Fortunately for me, it was
+near a village of Christian natives, one of whom found me on the beach,
+and carried me to his hut, and fed and clothed me, and took care of me
+till I recovered.  He knew the character of the vessel, for we had some
+time before carried off several natives from that very island, but I
+told him that I was an Englishman, and compelled by the Spaniards to
+remain on board.  He replied that it mattered not who I was or what I
+had been about, that I was suffering and in distress, and that his
+religion taught him to feed and clothe the hungry and naked, and to do
+good to his enemies--that as long as I chose I might remain, and that if
+I wished to go I might depart in peace.  I was sure he did not believe
+the account I gave of myself, and I own I did not feel as comfortable as
+I should have liked.  He and his family had prayers and sang hymns
+morning and evening; and on Sunday, as well as on other days in the
+week, they attended a large chapel, where a native missionary preached.
+The other people in the village did the same.  All this did not suit me,
+and I determined to get away as soon as I had the chance.  No vessel
+appearing, however, I told my host that I should like to see other parts
+of his island, and that I would make a trip through it.  He replied that
+I might do as I wished, but that as some of the natives were heathens or
+`devil's men,' as he called them, they might not treat me well.  I
+answered that I would run the risk of that, and as to their being
+heathens, that was all the same to me.  It only, indeed, made me the
+more eager to be among them, as I thought I should have greater liberty
+than with my psalm-singing friends.  I accordingly walked away with a
+stick in my hand, for I had no clothes except those on my back.
+Wherever I went the natives received me kindly, and gave me such food as
+I wanted.
+
+"After travelling some days, I found myself in a village where there was
+no church and no school, and the people did not trouble themselves much
+about clothing.  I guessed by this that they were heathens.  The chief,
+a young man, invited me to stop with him, and assist him in his battles.
+I soon showed him that I was a good hand with a musket, and he remarked
+that before long the time might come when I could use it.  He was just
+then, however, with some of his friends, going to catch pigeons in the
+woods.  We had first a grand kava feast, the drink they make from
+certain roots, which they first chew in their mouths.  Each of the young
+men had several trained pigeons, which are taught to fly round and round
+in the air at the end of a long string, and to come back to their
+masters when called.  Each man had, besides, a small net fixed to the
+end of a bamboo forty feet in length.  On arriving at the wood a large
+circle was cleared of bush, and a wall of stones built round it.  Each
+sportsman had also a small arbour of boughs erected, in which he could
+sit hidden just outside the wall.  In front of him sat his pigeon on a
+perch stuck in the ground, while by his side rested his net, ready to be
+raised in a moment.
+
+"When all was prepared, the decoy birds were let fly as far as the
+string, forty or fifty feet in length, would allow them, when they
+circled round and round, and to and fro, over the open ground.  The wild
+birds, on seeing them, collected from all quarters to learn what they
+were about.  The sportsmen then drew down their birds, when, as soon as
+the wild birds came near enough, they raised their nets, and seldom
+failed to capture one of the wild pigeons.  In an instant the bird was
+brought down.  Bird after bird was caught in the same manner.  Before
+commencing the game, stakes were put in, and he who caught the greatest
+number of pigeons won them.
+
+"We remained nearly a month engaged in this sport, spending the morning
+in bird-catching, and the evening in feasting.  I tried my hand at it,
+but though, after a few days' practice, I managed to catch several
+birds, I did not succeed as well as the young chiefs.  This was more to
+my interest, for had I beat them, perhaps they might have become jealous
+of me.
+
+"Altogether, this sort of life suited me much better than that which I
+led with the Christian natives.  They were a hospitable sort of people,
+and I had as much liberty as I could wish for.
+
+"Among other curious things I observed while I was among them, was the
+way they manufactured the cloth with which they make their dresses.
+They used the bark of the paper mulberry tree.  The young tree is first
+cut down, and the bark stripped off; it is then steeped in water for a
+couple of days, when the inner bark is separated from the coarse outer
+bark.  This is then beaten until it becomes as thin as silver-paper, and
+much increased in size.  Even then it is scarcely a foot wide; but the
+edges are overlapped, and stuck together with arrow-root melted in
+water.  It is then again beaten till all the parts are completely
+joined.  Pieces are thus made of many yards in length, such as I saw
+during my first visit to these islands.  They are afterwards dyed of
+various colours, red, brown, and yellow, and patterns are put on with a
+sort of stamp.
+
+"Though the heathen natives wore very few clothes generally, they at
+times dressed up in robes formed of the cloth I have described, which
+has a very handsome appearance.
+
+"I might tell you a good deal more about these people.  I had made up my
+mind to remain among them; but people, as you know, don't do always what
+they intend.  Such was my case in the present instance, as you shall
+hear.  But pass the grog-bottle.  I must wet my whistle before I move
+along."
+
+I was almost sick with listening to the account of the atrocities
+witnessed if not perpetrated by the old ruffian, our host, and was
+inclined to stop him, but his tongue once set going that was more than I
+could do, and so on he went again.
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+"One day a brig brought up in the harbour near which I happened to be
+staying, and the crew came on shore.  She belonged to Sydney, New South
+Wales, and as they talked to me about that place I was seized with a
+fancy to go there.  Fearing that the chief would not let me get away, I
+told him that I was just going on board to pay my countrymen a visit.  I
+kept below during the remainder of the day, and next morning the brig
+got under weigh, and stood out of the harbour.  She was the `Tickler,'
+engaged in the sandal-wood trade, and had still several places to visit
+to complete her cargo, which she was obliged to pick up here and there,
+and often had a hard job to get it.  The captain was in no way
+particular how he managed.  I was on board for some months and saw some
+curious things done.
+
+"The wood mostly grows on the Western Islands, north and south of the
+line.  On one occasion we came off a place where the captain understood
+it was to be procured from the mountains, some way in the interior.  We
+managed to entice the chief of the district on board by promising him
+some presents, if he would come and fetch them.  As soon as we had got
+him, the captain told his people that unless they would bring twelve
+boats' loads of sandal-wood off he would carry him away as a prisoner.
+The savages exclaimed that the white men were very cruel and unjust, but
+the captain did not mind that, as they were only savages, do you see;
+and as they did not wish to lose their chief, they were obliged to
+comply.  The captain told him that it he didn't behave himself and hold
+his tongue, he would double the quantity.  The chief, seeing that the
+captain was in earnest, ordered his people to go and fetch the wood,
+when the whole neighbourhood had to turn out and cut it.  In the course
+of two or three days it was brought on board.
+
+"Having got the wood we sailed away to another place.  These savages are
+content with curious articles in exchange for their wood.  Instead of
+money the brig had on board a quantity of small white shells, the teeth
+of sharks and other animals, as also pigs, cats, and goats.  So eager
+are they to possess these animals that they would sometimes give a ton
+of sandal-wood for a goat or cat.  One day a native came on board with a
+small quantity of sandal-wood when our shells had run short.  The mate
+offered him some tobacco, which he did not want.  He got angry and said
+he must have a shell, when the mate without more ado pulled out his
+revolver: it went off, and the native was shot dead.  The body was
+thrown overboard, and the sandal-wood remained with us, though the man's
+friends wanted payment for it.  The captain told the mate he should not
+have been so careless as to shoot the man, and then thought no more
+about the matter.
+
+"Our object, however, being to get sandal-wood, the captain cared little
+as to the means.  The lazy islanders in some places, where it grew
+abundantly, would not take the trouble of cutting it, so the captain
+devised a plan for obtaining what he wanted.  We visited for this
+purpose an island where the natives were friendly with the white men,
+and enticed a number on board.  When we had got them the captain told
+them that he would give them their liberty if they would go on shore at
+a place to which he would take them, and cut as much sandal-wood as he
+wanted.  Back we sailed to the island where the sandal-wood grew.  We
+then took them on shore, and landing with a strong party of armed men,
+guarded them while they cut the wood, which the inhabitants seemed to
+object to their doing.  They worked well, for they were anxious to go
+back to their own island.  We had to shoot a few of the inhabitants who
+came too close to us with their spears and clubs, but they were savage
+black fellows, and terrible cannibals, and so to my mind there was no
+great harm in shooting them.
+
+"The wood was cut and carried down by our natives to the boats.  We had
+now got pretty well as much as the brig would carry, but the captain
+told them to go back and cut more.  They said they were afraid, lest the
+black fellows should kill them.  The captain answered that that was
+their look out, and that if they wanted their liberty the wood must be
+cut.  When we had got it into the boats we returned to the brig; the
+captain then ordered the anchor to be hove up, saying that he could not
+spare time to go back to the island from which the natives had come, and
+that he had fulfilled his contract by giving them their liberty and
+leaving them on shore.
+
+"As we sailed out of the harbour, we saw some of them running down to
+the beach, and waving their hands to us, with the black fellows at their
+heels.  They were soon overtaken, and one after the other were knocked
+over by the clubs of the savages, who, to my belief, ate the whole of
+them; for the inhabitants of that island were well known, as I have
+said, to be fearful cannibals.
+
+"Now, perhaps some people may think that the captain of the `Tickler'
+didn't behave quite straightforward in the matter; but that's no
+business of mine.  What he had to do was to get a shipload of
+sandal-wood as cheaply as he could, and he did his best to save expense.
+To be sure, others who came after us might have suffered, because the
+savages were not very likely to trust them.  We ourselves were nearly
+cut off on one occasion, when visiting a large island called New
+Caledonia.  Though we had seen a number of natives gathering on the
+coast, we pulled in without fear, supposing that their clubs and spears
+could not reach us, and a volley of small arms would soon put them to
+flight.  As we pulled on we heard them shouting to us, and shrieking
+loudly.  They were a jet-black, fine race of fellows.  We could see that
+some of them had long spears in their hands, but others seemed to be
+unarmed.  Suddenly, however, down there came upon us a thick shower of
+stones, wounding two or three of our number, which was immediately
+followed by a whole flight of spears, when more of us were wounded,
+while several stuck in the boat.  The order was given to pull round; and
+glad enough we were to get out of their reach.
+
+"I afterwards heard that the natives of these islands use a sling, not
+only for throwing stones, which they can send to a great distance, but
+for casting their spears, which, as we found, far as they were off, came
+rattling down upon us in a very unpleasant manner.
+
+"One of our men was killed.  When at a safe distance we fired two or
+three volleys in return, and probably killed some of them; but they
+quickly got under cover.  We then once more pulled in, thinking that
+they had taken to flight; but they were up again in an instant, and the
+whole shore appeared lined with warriors.  We therefore came to the
+conclusion, that instead of carrying them off as labourers, they were
+more likely to kill and eat us, should we land on their island.  We
+pulled away and steered for another place, where we expected to find the
+natives more peaceably disposed or more easily captured.
+
+"I afterwards heard that several vessels went there, some of which had
+the crews of their boats murdered on going on shore, while in two or
+three cases the vessels themselves were attacked, and every one on board
+put to death.  All I can say is, that whatever people may think of our
+doings, we were not worse than others.  I heard of several things which
+will prove this.  Among others, a sandal-wood trader had called at the
+island of Mare, when three young men swam off to her, wishing to trade
+on their own account.  They were bargaining with the captain, who
+offered to give them less than they wanted for their sandal-wood, which
+they had piled up on shore, ready to embark.  They grew angry, and
+declared that they would keep their sandal-wood.  On this, without more
+ado, he drew out his revolver and shot two of them dead on the deck; the
+other leaped overboard, and the captain ordered the crew to fire at him.
+He had got some distance, when a shot struck him, and he sank.  The
+captain then sent a boat on shore, and brought away the sandal-wood.
+Another captain was on a sandal-wood cruise, when he put in not far from
+Erromanga, where he found the people at war with another tribe some
+distance round the coast.  As abundance of sandal-wood grew on the hills
+in the distance, he tried to persuade them to bring him a supply down to
+the beach.  They replied that they could not do so then, as they were
+engaged in war, when he told them that if they would supply him with the
+wood, he would go and conquer their enemies for them.  The people
+thought this a fine thing, and agreed to the proposal.  So the vessel
+went round the coast, to where the opposing tribe resided.  If he had
+began to fire away at once on them, they would have escaped into the
+woods, and he probably would not have caught a man.  He therefore
+pretended to be very friendly, and managed to entice a number on board.
+When he had got them, his crew set upon them, and killed some on deck,
+and shot others who had leaped overboard and were trying to make their
+escape.  One was taken alive, and another desperately wounded.  Having
+thrown the dead bodies overboard, he sailed back with the living
+prisoner and the other man, who soon died, to his friends.  By this time
+they had the sandal-wood ready, so he made over the living and dead
+prisoners into their hands, and received the sandal-wood in return.  As
+the people were cannibals, it was easy to guess what they did with their
+prisoners.
+
+"It cannot be said that we did anything worse than this; but, bless you,
+I might tell you a hundred other things which either we did or I heard
+of done by sandal-wood traders in those parts.  I was not over
+particular, so didn't mind, but I wanted the voyage to be over, that I
+might get to Sydney, and have a spree on shore.
+
+"We got there at last, and our cargo realised a large profit, as the
+price was known to be up at the time in the China market, for which it
+was destined.
+
+"I hadn't been there long, before I found my pockets pretty well cleaned
+out of cash, and had to think of what I should do next.
+
+"I was sitting one day in a grog shop near the harbour, where I was
+allowed to run up a score though my last shilling was spent, and I
+didn't exactly know how I was to pay for it, when somehow or other I
+lost my senses.  I might have been asleep, or I might have been drunk.
+When I came to myself, I was in the fore peak of a small vessel, and
+when I went on deck I found that we were out of sight of land.  It was
+not the first time that such a thing had happened to me, and so I was
+not going to make a fuss about it.  I looked round on my new shipmates,
+who were about as rough a lot as I ever set eyes on; may be I was not
+very different from them, but we hadn't a looking-glass on board that
+craft, so, do you see, I was not able to judge.  I asked the name of the
+craft, where we were bound for, and the object of the voyage.
+
+"My shipmates laughed.
+
+"`Where were you raised: you don't look as green as you would wish to
+make us fancy,' said one without answering my question.
+
+"`I was raised in a country where they grow bull-dogs, which are more
+apt to bite than to bark,' I growled out.  `When I ask a question I
+expect a civil answer.  I was at sea, and crossed the line a dozen times
+while most of you were still sucking pap, and so you will understand
+that though I don't exactly know how I came to be aboard this craft, you
+had better not try to pass off your tricks on me.'
+
+"I thought this would have made them bowse on the slack of their
+jaw-tackles, but they were banded together, and fancied they could say
+what they liked to me.  One young fellow only, Bill Harding was his
+name, I found stood aloof from them, and cried out that it was a shame
+to attack an old fellow like me, though I might have got hocussed and
+shipped on board without knowing it.  On that one of them, Jos Noakes
+they called him, goes up to Bill, and begins blackguarding him.  He
+stood as cool as a cucumber, with a smile on his good-looking face.  He
+was the only one among the lot who was not as ugly as sin.
+
+"Says Bill to Jos, `You had better not.  I have floored many a man who
+could beat you with his little finger, and so, Jos, to my mind, you will
+get the worst of it.'
+
+"I pulled out my pipe and lighted it, for, d'ye see, there's nothing
+like a bit of baccy for keeping a man cool, and cool I wanted to be just
+then.  This showed them more than anything else what I was made of.
+
+"There Bill stood waiting to see what Jos would do, while the rest
+gathered round edging Jos on.  Jos doubled his fists, getting nearer and
+nearer to Bill, and at last made a hit at him.  In a moment Bill's arms
+were unfolded, and he struck out and caught Jos's ugly face a blow which
+sent him reeling backwards, till he lay kicking like a turtle on his
+back.
+
+"`Sarve you right, Jos,' cried out several voices, and now most of the
+crew seemed to side with Bill.
+
+"Jos had had enough of it, and sneaked below to bathe his jaws in water.
+
+"I shook Bill by the hand and thanked him, and we were friends ever
+afterwards.
+
+"Bill told me that the craft I had so curiously found myself aboard was
+the `Catfish,' and that she was on a voyage round the islands to pick up
+sandal-wood, cocoa-nut oil, or pearls, which he told me were to be found
+among some of the low-lying coral islands to the eastward.
+
+"`I shall like well enough to go after pearls,' I observed; `for I know
+their value and the price people on shore will give for them.'
+
+"`That made me ship on board the "Catfish,"' said Bill.  `I remember my
+mother used to wear such things in her hair, and that a small string of
+them was worth some hundred pounds, and I thought that if I could get a
+few I should be a rich man, and be able to go back to Old England, for I
+am pretty well sick of this sort of life, though, mate, as you know,
+when a man is down in the world it's a hard job to get up again.'
+
+"`Then I suppose, Bill, from what you say, you are a gentleman's son,
+and you have come out to these parts to make your fortune,' I remarked.
+
+"`Yes, I am well born, and might have been very different from what I
+am,' he answered with a sigh.  `But I came away to sea because I was a
+wild scamp, and no one could make anything of me at home.  However, if I
+can get hold of a few of those pearls, so as to start fair, I intend to
+turn over a new leaf, and go back to my friends, provided I can do so
+with a good coat on my back, and not like the ragged beggar I have been
+of late.  I have got a few articles to trade with, and I shipped on
+condition that I should do what I liked with them.'
+
+"`I'll help you, my lad, as far as I can,' said I, for I had taken a
+fancy to Bill, who might have been all he said of himself.  To my notion
+he was as brave and warm-hearted a fellow as ever stepped.
+
+"I have already described the various ways the sandal-wood traders
+manage to obtain their cargoes.  Our captain was in no degree more
+particular than most of them, and played a few odd tricks among the
+natives to get what he wanted.  On one occasion we got a chief on board,
+and the captain told him that he must make his people cut a dozen
+boat-loads of sandal-wood, or we would carry him away as a prisoner to
+Sydney.  The chief refused, and declared that the wood was not to be
+got.  On this the captain called two or three of his people on board,
+and then had him triced up and gave him a dozen, and told him that he
+should have it every morning if the wood was not forthcoming.  Still the
+savage held out, and he was heard to tell his people not to bring any.
+
+"Next morning some of his people came off, when, as they brought no
+wood, preparations were made to give him another dozen.  On seeing this
+his courage gave way, and he told his people to go back and get the
+wood.  He got his dozen though, for the captain was a man to keep his
+word on those sort of matters.
+
+"Two or three boat-loads came off that very evening, and in a couple of
+days all the captain asked for was supplied.  The chief was then set at
+liberty, and told to go about his business.
+
+"The captain observed that he was doing his duty to his owners, and
+getting a cargo in the cheapest way he could; he seemed, indeed, to
+pride himself on his cleverness.
+
+"As sandal-wood was becoming scarce in most of the islands, we took on
+board, whenever we had the opportunity, as many casks of cocoa-nut oil
+as we could collect; but pearls were our chief object, and we continued
+our voyage till we reached the island I mentioned.
+
+"The natives were said to be friendly to white men, and therefore we had
+no fear of them.  They had a few pearls already, which the captain took
+in exchange for some of the beads, cutlery, looking-glasses, and
+trinkets we had brought to trade with.  He then told the natives that
+they must go off in their canoes to the reef where the pearl-oysters
+were to be found, and be quick in bringing him as many as he wanted,
+threatening them if they were not sharp about it he would carry off
+their chiefs, cut down their cocoa-nut trees, and leave their wives and
+children to starve.  This made them all alive, though they grumbled a
+little, and every evening they returned bringing a fair supply of
+shells.  They dared not refuse to work, seeing that they had no muskets;
+and as their island was perfectly flat, they had no place to fly to and
+hide themselves, so that by landing a few of our men we could, if we had
+wished, have burned their huts, cut down their trees, and have carried
+off as many of them as we wanted.
+
+"One day when they had brought fewer shells than usual, the captain sent
+a party of us on shore, and having caught two of their chiefs, we
+brought them on board, and kept them in irons, telling them that we
+should carry them away unless their people would stir themselves.
+
+"Next day a double quantity was brought on board.  The captain seemed
+mightily pleased.
+
+"`Now, my boys, this shows what you can do,' he said, in the lingo the
+savages spoke.  `I am going to make a cruise to some other islands not
+far off, and I shall take your chiefs with me.  If, when I come back,
+you have not got as many pearls as I want,' and he told them the
+quantity he should require, `up go your chiefs to our yard-arms.'
+
+"I don't mean that he said this in as many words, but it was what he
+wished the people to understand.
+
+"The other islands we visited could supply us only with cocoa-nut oil,
+and though we had a quarrel now and then about it, we generally managed
+to get what we wanted at the price we chose to give.
+
+"On our return we found the supply of shells the captain had ordered.
+
+"I thought that he would have allowed the chiefs to go on shore, but he
+was too deep a hand for that.  He had found the plan answer so well that
+he determined to have some more pearls before sailing, so he pretended
+that the natives had not brought him enough, and told them that they
+must go off and collect more.  They grumbled, declaring that they would
+do no such thing, and demanded their chiefs back.
+
+"`You shall have them,' he answered, `but they shall swing at our
+yard-arms first,' and he ordered the ropes to be rove to hang them by.
+
+"The chiefs were then brought on deck.  They did not look much like
+chiefs, half-starved and dirty as they were, for they had been kept
+below during the voyage for fear of their jumping overboard, and making
+their escape.  The natives set up a loud yell when they saw them, and
+made as if they would attack us, and try to rescue them.  On this the
+captain ordered us to present our muskets, and fire if they approached.
+Bill was the only person who refused to obey, declaring that it was a
+shame, and that he would sooner let the natives kill us than shoot one
+of them.  The captain, hearing this, threatened to trice him up with the
+chiefs, and to my mind he meant what he said.  The natives, however,
+thought better of it, and paddled off to try to get more pearls.
+
+"`It's lucky for you, Bill, that the savages played us no tricks; but
+I'll not forget you, my lad,' exclaimed the captain, shaking his fist at
+him.
+
+"In a couple of days the natives appeared paddling towards us.  They
+kept, however, at a distance, and one canoe only with three men in her
+came alongside, bringing a few pearls.  They said they had got more, but
+they had resolved to throw them into the sea unless their chiefs were
+first delivered up to them.
+
+"The captain grinned at this, and replied that they should have one
+chief, and when the pearls were brought they should have the other.  The
+natives after talking a long time were obliged to comply.  The chiefs
+embraced; they might have suspected that the one who remained would run
+a great chance of swinging at the yardarm, notwithstanding the captain's
+promise.  At last he told the younger of the two that he might go,
+thinking, probably, that he was of less consequence than the other.  The
+poor fellow was lowered into the canoe, and away his countrymen paddled
+to the shore.
+
+"I thought that the elder man looked well pleased at the escape of his
+companion, as he squatted down on deck, resting his head on his hands,
+though he looked up every now and then at the rope hanging from the
+yardarm, as if he expected to be dangling from it before long.
+
+"The same canoe returned in a couple of hours, bringing a further supply
+of pearls, while the rest of the natives were seen gathering in the
+distance.
+
+"Perhaps the captain thought that if he did not deliver up the chief--
+driven to desperation, they might attack the vessel, and that though
+many might have been killed, we should not have got off scathless.  The
+natives were indeed in great numbers advancing closer and closer.  He
+therefore told the chief he might go.  The old man rose, and with the
+help of his countrymen got into the canoe, which immediately paddled
+away towards the rest, advancing rapidly to meet him.
+
+"The breeze was fair out of the harbour.  Sails were loosed, the anchor
+tripped.  There was no time to be lost, for some scores of canoes were
+close up to us.
+
+"`Give the savages a parting volley to teach them that we are not to be
+insulted with impunity,' cried the captain.
+
+"Several shots were fired at the canoes, and two or three of the savages
+were hit.  I cannot say whether all fired, but Bill did not.
+
+"The brig had gathered way, and we were distancing the canoes, and
+though the captain ordered another volley to be fired, the shot fell
+short of them.
+
+"`We have managed that pretty cleverly,' he observed, as he walked the
+deck, rubbing his hands.  `I never expected to get so many pearls, and
+we have not paid dear for them either,' and he chuckled to himself as he
+turned aft.
+
+"I asked Bill if he had got as many as he had hoped for.
+
+"`No,' he answered.  `The skipper kept too sharp a look-out to allow me
+to trade honestly as I had intended, and I'd sooner not have got a
+single one, than obtain them in the vile abominable way he has done.  I
+wish that I was clear of the craft, and hope that I may never set eyes
+on him again.'
+
+"I told Bill that he was too particular.
+
+"`No, no,' he exclaimed.  `I am a vile wretch as it is, but I am not
+sunk so low as to stand by and see such things done without exclaiming
+against them.'
+
+"We had a quick run to the westward, and the captain was congratulating
+himself on making a prosperous voyage.  We had still room, however, for
+some more sandal-wood, and he took it into his head to visit the place
+where he had given a couple of dozen to a native chief for refusing to
+bring off sandal-wood.  He was mad, you will allow, to make the attempt.
+He thought he could catch the chief, and play the trick a second time.
+
+"Bringing up before the place, and telling us to keep our arms ready for
+use, and to let no native on board, away he went in the boat with six
+hands well armed.  The natives, instead of running off, came down to the
+beach quite in a friendly manner, and welcomed him on shore.  He
+thought, I suppose, that they did not know the brig again, or that the
+chief had forgotten his flogging.
+
+"We watched him from the deck, and he and two men advanced up the beach
+towards the very chief himself, who came down to meet him.
+
+"The captain's idea was, I have no doubt, to seize the chief and bring
+him off.
+
+"In another instant we saw one of the men running, and a party with
+clubs and spears, who had remained hidden behind some rocks, rushing
+towards the captain.  Before he could escape, his brains were dashed
+out, and his companion was struck to the ground.  The other man reached
+the boat with a spear in his back, and was hauled in just before the
+savages got up to him.  The boat shoved off and pulled away towards us,
+a shower of spears following her.  Another man was hit, for we saw an
+oar dropped.  The remaining three pulled away for their lives.  We,
+meantime, loosed the sails and got under way; and time it was to do so,
+for we saw a number of canoes, which had been concealed behind rocks
+along the shore, darting out towards us.  As soon as the boat was
+alongside, we hauled up the men, one of whom was pretty near dead by
+that time, cut the cable, let the boat go adrift--we had no time to
+hoist her up--sheeted home the sails, and stood away from the shore.
+
+"We had a narrow escape of it, for though we kept firing at the
+advancing canoes, they were almost up to us; and it's my belief the
+savages would have got on board in spite of all we could have done to
+resist them, for they seemed resolved to have their revenge.  As it was,
+another man was hit, and our deck was covered with spears and darts.
+
+"We at last got clear of the land, and the mate, who took command, said
+he would shape a direct course for Sydney, and have nothing more to do
+with trading.  We soon, however, began to suspect that he was but a poor
+navigator, and Bill said he was sure of it.
+
+"Three or four days afterwards a gale sprung up from the westward.  We
+lost our topmasts, and were driven before it for a week or more.
+
+"Whether or not the mate was a bad navigator, we had no means of
+proving, for one night he was washed overboard.  Bill, who was the only
+scholar among us, looked at the log; that had not been written up, nor
+had our course on the chart been pricked off; so there we were, driving
+before a heavy gale, and not knowing what island might be in our course
+to bring us up.  The brig also had sprung a leak, and we had to turn-to
+at the pumps.  Our provisions and water were running short.  We were in
+a bad case.  Even had we sighted an island, we should have been afraid
+to go ashore, for we had played so many tricks at different places,
+that, after what had happened, we thought that we might be treated in
+the same way as the captain had been.
+
+"The gale at length came to an end.  Still we had to keep the pumps
+going.  Our last biscuit was eaten; we had not a drop of water in the
+casks.  Bill, who had been studying the chart, told us that if we would
+keep up our spirits he hoped in another day or two to make an island to
+the southward, where we had not before touched.  That night, however,
+there came on a dead calm.
+
+"When the sun rose the next morning the sea was like glass, with not a
+sign of a breeze.
+
+"When men are starving they will eat anything.  We began to stew down
+our shoes and every bit of leather we could find about the ship.  The
+lockers were searched for biscuit crumbs, or lumps of grease, or
+anything eatable, till nothing which could keep body and soul together
+remained.
+
+"The men knew that Bill and I were friends.  I heard them talking
+together and casting looks at him.  He was thin enough, poor fellow, by
+this time; but the rest of us were thinner still, all bones and sinews.
+Bill and I were on deck together, and I told him to keep by me when I
+saw the rest of the men coming aft with a glare in their eyes, the
+meaning of which I well knew.  Telling Bill to keep behind me, I drew my
+knife, and swore I would kill the first man who advanced.  Jos Noakes
+came on in front of the rest.  He had not forgotten the knock-over Bill
+had given him; still I had little hopes of saving my friend, for when
+men are desperate they will do anything.  Jos was close up to me, and
+though I might have killed him the rest would have set on me; when just
+then the sails gave a loud flap, and some of the men, looking round,
+cried out that there was a fresh breeze coming.
+
+"`My lads,' cried Bill, who, though the moment before he expected
+nothing but death, was suddenly himself again, `that breeze will take us
+to the island we were steering for in the course of a few hours.  You
+may eat me if you like, but I don't think you will find your way there
+without my help.'
+
+"The men saw the sense of this, and told him he had nothing to fear.
+While he and I went to the helm, the rest trimmed sails, and we were
+soon running at a brisk rate through the water.
+
+"Fortunately, some small casks of hams which had got stowed away under
+the sandal-wood were discovered.  This satisfied our hunger, though it
+increased our thirst.  The wind, however, brought rain, and we were able
+to collect enough water to keep us alive.  We thought all would go well,
+in spite of the leak, which made it still necessary to keep the pumps at
+work.
+
+"Bill and I had just come on deck at night for our middle watch, when
+just as he had been telling me that he hoped next morning to make the
+land, the vessel's keel grated on a coral reef which the look-out had
+not discovered.  On she drove, and I hoped might be forced over it, but
+the grating, tearing sound which came from below told me that the sharp
+points were ripping off her planks, and the rest of the crew, springing
+on deck, cried out that the water was rushing in on every side.  We
+clewed up the sails, and got our only boat ready for launching.
+
+"The wind was increasing, and forcing us further and further on the
+reef.  As we could not tell in what direction to pull, we determined to
+remain till morning, but before the morning arrived the wind increased,
+and the sea broke over us.  The mainmast went by the board, and most of
+the men cried out that if we did not get the boat in the water we should
+be lost.
+
+"Bill and I had gone forward.  I heard some loud cries.  My shipmates
+had managed to launch the boat, but the next instant she had been
+swamped alongside, and they were struggling for their lives in the
+foaming sea.  We clung on to the wreck.  The sea was making a complete
+breach over her, and the after part appeared breaking up.  Suddenly she
+swung round, and seemed to me to be slipping off the rock.  At that
+moment a sea took me, striking me on the head, knocking the senses out
+of me; the next I found myself in the foaming waters, and looking up,
+the moon bursting forth just then, caught sight of Bill making his way
+up the fore-rigging.  I sung out to him to heave me a rope and haul me
+on board.  The vessel appeared to have been brought up by a lower part
+of the reef, and to be sticking there.  Bill heard my voice, and
+unreefing the fore brace, hove it to me just as a sea washed me back
+towards the wreck.  I caught hold of it when pretty nigh exhausted, for
+though I hadn't had much enjoyment in life, I didn't wish to leave it,
+and so clung on with all my strength, while Bill gradually hauled me up
+to the fore chains.  From thence I made my way into the top, where he
+and I sat, expecting, however, every moment that the mast would go and
+carry us overboard.
+
+"`Are the rest all lost, think you?' asked Bill.
+
+"`No doubt about it,' said I.  `The boat could not have lived a minute
+in such a sea as there is running.  We are better off even here.'
+
+"`Terrible,' said Bill.  `And you and I are left alone out of the whole
+lot.'
+
+"`We may thank our stars for that,' said I.  `And I say, Bill, if we
+hold out till morning, and it comes on calm, maybe we shall find some of
+the pearls, and after all it won't be so bad a job for us.'
+
+"`Don't talk of the pearls,' he answered, with a groan.  `I wish that I
+had never been tempted to try to get them.  The captain and the rest
+have got their deserts, and I would not touch one of them, gained as
+they were by cruelty and fraud, if they were to be washed up into my
+hands.'
+
+"`I only wish I could catch sight of some of the boxes with the chance
+of getting them,' said I.  `And if you were to do so, Bill, I would not
+trust to your good resolutions.'
+
+"`I don't want to talk about the matter,' answered Bill, gloomily.
+`What chance have we of getting away from the wreck? we may be miles off
+from the shore, for what I know.'
+
+"`If the wind goes down, we may build a raft and reach the land, or may
+be a vessel will pass by and take us off.  If not, and it breezes up
+again, we shall be in a bad case.'
+
+"Bill groaned again.
+
+"`I am not prepared to die,' he exclaimed.  `I would give anything to
+get on shore.'
+
+"`You haven't anything to give,' said I.  `So you had better make up
+your mind to brave it out, just as I mean to do.  I wish that I could
+get at some liquor, though; that would keep up our spirits better than
+anything else.'
+
+"Bill groaned again.
+
+"`I don't want to die like a brute with my senses gone,' he answered.
+
+"`As to that, seamen have to go out of the world somehow, and for my
+part I don't think myself worse than the rest,' I answered; `and with
+regard to the things done aboard this craft, that was the captain's look
+out, not mine, nor yours either; so cheer up, Bill, don't be
+down-hearted.  Daylight will soon return, and then, may be, we shall
+find ourselves better off than we fancy.'
+
+"You see, I kept up my spirits, and tried to keep up Bill's; but he got
+worse and worse, and began raving away so curiously, that I thought he
+would throw himself into the sea and get drowned.
+
+"To prevent this I passed a rope round his body when he didn't see what
+I was about, and lashed him to the top.
+
+"As the night drew on the wind dropped, and at daybreak my eyes were
+gladdened by the sight of the land about two miles away, while between
+us and it were numerous small rocks scattered about, by means of which
+we might make our way, even if we had to swim for it.  I remembered,
+however, the sharks, so I determined to build a raft.  Poor Bill could
+not help me, so I set to work by myself.  I was some time putting one
+together to carry us both, and then, being very hungry, I thought I
+would try to get hold of the keg of hams and the cask of water which
+were stowed forward, and also that I might pick up some of the boxes of
+pearls.  I got the hams and water, but could not find the pearls.
+
+"I took some of the food up to Bill, but he would only touch the water.
+
+"At last I managed to lower him on to the raft, and, afraid that the
+weather might again change, shoved off to make our voyage to the land.
+It was slow work, for I had only a long pole and a paddle.  If Bill had
+been able to help, we should have got on much faster.  At last we came
+to a small island.  I thought to myself I'll leave Bill here with some
+ham and water for food, and go back and have another search for the
+pearls.  Bill made no objection; I don't think even then he knew where
+he was.  I got back with less difficulty than I expected.
+
+"The tide had now fallen, and the after part of the vessel was clear of
+water.  I cannot tell you how I felt when I caught sight of the boxes
+where I knew the pearls had been stowed in the captain's cabin.  There
+were a couple of large chests, and in these were several more boxes,
+with the captain's money, and some other things of value.  I thought to
+myself, if I turn out everything heavy, these boxes will float and serve
+to preserve my treasures, even should the raft be capsized.  I
+accordingly, having prepared them as I proposed, put in the boxes of
+pearls, and having lashed them securely, lowered them on to the raft,
+loading it with a number of other articles, which I thought would be
+useful.  Shoving off, I made the best of my way towards the rock where I
+had left poor Bill; it was time I did, for the weather was again, I
+feared, about to change, and heavy rain was falling.  Hoping that he
+might have revived, I expected to see him looking out for me.
+
+"While making good way through the water, suddenly I found my raft touch
+ground.  The current striking against it drove it further and further on
+to the reef.  To prevent it capsizing, I had to stand up and press my
+pole against the bottom.  There I stood, the rain coming down faster and
+faster.  I shouted to Bill, hoping that he might hear me, and perhaps be
+able to wade out to my assistance, but no answer came.  I might easily
+have got off by casting the chest and the other articles adrift, but I
+could not bring myself to do that, not knowing where they and their
+precious contents might be carried to.  At last I thought of mooring the
+raft, and trying to reach the rock by wading.  I had a large axe which
+would serve as an anchor.  I made a rope fast to it, and stuck it
+securely, as I thought, in a cleft of the coral reef.  I then, with the
+pole in my hand, made my way towards the rock.  Reaching it at last, not
+without difficulty, I looked about for Bill.  What was my dismay not to
+see him!  The provisions and water, and the other things I left with him
+were there, but he was gone.  Whether he had fancied I was going to
+desert him, and had attempted to swim to the mainland, or in his madness
+had thrown himself into the sea, I could not tell.  I climbed to the end
+of the rock nearest to the shore, shouting at the top of my voice, and
+still hoping to see him, but not a soul appeared on the beach.  I had
+taken a liking to him, and I felt more unhappy than I had ever felt
+before, at the thoughts that he was lost.  `It cannot be helped,' I said
+to myself.  `I'll go back and tow the chests one by one to the rock, and
+so get the raft afloat, and in time reach the shore.'  At once I went
+back to the outer end of the rock, and began to wade towards where I had
+left the raft.  The breeze had got up, and there was some sea on.  It
+struck me that the water was deeper than at first.  I hadn't made many
+steps when, looking at the raft, I felt convinced that it was moving.  I
+tried to hurry on, but found myself floundering in the water almost up
+to my neck, and had to scramble back to the rock to save my life.  The
+raft went faster and faster.  I shouted, I shrieked to it to stop; the
+pearls which would have made my fortune were every instant getting
+further from my reach.  Then a wave took it and turned it right over,
+another struck it and dashed it against a rock, and away floated the
+pieces with the chests in the direction the current was making.
+
+"On getting back to the rock I sat down and cried like a child.  I felt
+as if I was done for.  At last I got better and began to hope that the
+chests might be washed on shore, and that I might secure them after all.
+
+"How was I to reach the land? there was the question.  I was a bad
+swimmer, and if I had been a good one the chances were that I should be
+picked off by a shark.  My only remaining hope was that the natives
+might not be cannibals, and that some of them coming off to fish might
+see me, and carry me to their island.  Still perhaps some days might
+pass before any one might come out so far.  I knew therefore that I must
+husband my provisions to make them last me as long as possible.
+Fortunately the rain had filled some hollows in the rock.  I drank as
+much as I wanted of that, and bailed the remainder into the cask I had
+left with Bill.
+
+"The day passed by and no one appeared, and not only that day but
+several others went by, and I was still on the rock.  I had eaten up all
+the ham and drunk up nearly every drop of water.  I had no means of
+striking a light, and if I had there was no fuel except my pole, and I
+could not live long on the raw shell fish which stuck to the rock.
+
+"My last hour I thought was come.  I lay down expecting to die, and soon
+dropped off into a sort of stupor.  I was aroused by hearing voices, and
+looking up I saw a canoe with three brown girls in her, paddling up to
+the rock.  I just lifted my head and made signs that I was very ill;
+they understood me, and instead of running away managed together to lift
+me into their canoe.  One poured water down my throat, and another fed
+me with yam.  They had been out fishing, and were returning home.  They
+took me to their father's hut, and fed and nursed me till I recovered.
+My thoughts were running on the chests with the pearls, but I could hear
+nothing of them, nor of poor Bill either, nor have I from that day to
+this."
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+"I was just well, and thinking what I should do, when a South Sea whaler
+put into a harbour close by for provisions and water.  She wanted hands,
+and I shipped aboard her.  She was not long out from Sydney, to which
+port she belonged.
+
+"While I served in her I was again nearly lost.  We were after a big
+whale which had already been struck when the creature caught the boat I
+was in with its flukes, stove in the bows, and turned her right over,
+while I and the rest of the crew were left struggling in the water.  I
+managed to climb up on the boat's stern, and hailed another boat which
+was under sail, but so eager were those in her in pursuit of the monster
+that they did not see for some time what had occurred.  The rest of my
+mates had sunk before she came up, and I was taken on board so exhausted
+that I could not have hung on many minutes longer.
+
+"When the cruise was up the whaler returned to Sydney, and I thought
+that I would stop on shore, and with the money I had saved try what I
+could do for a living.  My cash was gone, however, before I could well
+look round; my old friends the crimps got most of it.
+
+"Remembering how I had before been shipped on board a craft without
+knowing it, I determined that such a trick should not be played me
+again.  Perhaps the crimps thought I was too old to be worth much and
+would not let me run up a score.
+
+"I was standing one day on the quay with my hands in my pockets, when
+the skipper of the last sandal-wood trader I had sailed in came up to
+me.  He knew me and I knew him, and a bigger villain I never set eyes
+on; still considering that my last shilling was gone, I could not be
+particular about my acquaintances.
+
+"`Boas, old ship,' says he.  `You know the South Sea Islands as well as
+most men.  I want a few fellows like you for a cruise which is sure to
+be profitable, and you will come back in a short time with your pockets
+lined with gold, and be able to live at your ease, if you have a mind to
+do so, like a gentleman.'
+
+"I asked him to tell me what was the object of the voyage.
+
+"`I don't mind telling you the truth.  If you were to ask at the Custom
+House you would hear we were starting on a voyage after cocoa-nut oil
+and sea slugs, but there's poor profit in that compared to what we are
+really after.  We do not call ours a slaving voyage, but our intention
+is to get as many natives as we can stowed away in our hold, by fair
+means or foul, and to run them across to Brisbane or some other port in
+Queensland.  The order we receive from our owner is to visit the
+different islands, and to persuade as many natives as we can to come and
+work for the settlers.  They want labourers, and will pay good wages,
+and the natives are only to be engaged for three years, and to be
+carried back again at the end of that time if they happen to be alive,
+and wish it, to their own islands.'
+
+"I told him that was very like the sort of trade I had been engaged in
+some years before, when we collected natives and carried them to Peru to
+work in the mines, and how the French didn't approve of our taking the
+people from their islands, and had captured a number of our vessels.
+`But,' says I, `as I suppose that there are no mines in Queensland, the
+Indians will like Australia better than they did Peru, and won't die so
+fast as they did there.  But what does the Government say to the matter?
+Maybe they'll call it slaving.'
+
+"`Oh we have got a regular licence from the Queensland Government,'
+answered the skipper.  `It's all shipshape and lawful, provided we treat
+the natives kindly, and don't take them unless they wish to go, and make
+them clearly understand the agreement they enter into.'
+
+"`If that's the case, Captain Squid, I'm your man,' says I.  `I am not
+over particular; but in my old age I have taken a liking to what is
+lawful and right.'
+
+"`Very wise too,' says the skipper, giving me a wink.  `You will find
+all our proceedings perfectly lawful, and we run no risk whatever.  If
+the natives get harder worked than they like when they reach Queensland,
+that's no business of ours.'
+
+"To make a long story short, I that evening found myself on board the
+`Pickle,' schooner of about eighty tons.  She hadn't much room for
+stowage 'tween decks, but as the passage between Queensland and the
+islands where she was to get the natives was short, and as I supposed
+only a few at a time would be taken, I had no scruples on that score.
+At all events, it could not be anything like the middle passage between
+Africa and America.
+
+"Next morning we were at sea running to the eastward, after which we
+stood away northward, towards the islands which extend between the line
+and New Caledonia.  The people are all blacks, a strong, hardy race,
+and, as Captain Squid remarked to me, more likely to be caught, and when
+caught better able to work than the brown-skinned natives to the
+eastward, such as we used to take away to labour in the mines in South
+America.
+
+"The first place we came to was the Island of Tanna, one of the
+southernmost of the New Hebrides.  We knew that missionaries were there
+trying to turn the people into Christians--an odd sort of work to my
+mind for white people to attempt.  It would not do, however, to go near
+where they were.  We stood in, therefore, to a part of the island where
+they were not.  Having hove-to, we sent a boat on shore to invite the
+people to come off with palm oil, telling them that we would pay a high
+price for it.  The second mate, who went in command of the boat with the
+interpreter, was ordered to be very cautious lest the natives should
+attempt to cut him off.
+
+"Having delivered his message, he returned to the schooner.  To our
+surprise, in a short time three canoes were seen coming off with a dozen
+natives in them.  They came alongside without fear, and told the
+interpreter that they were Christians, and friends of the white men.
+The captain invited them on board, and said that he would not only pay
+them well for their oil, but would, if they chose, take them to a
+country where they might soon become rich, and return home again in a
+short time.  They replied that they had no desire to leave their native
+island, and wanted to receive payment for their oil.  The captain said
+they should have it if they would come down below, where he had got a
+feast ready for them.  An old man of the party advised them to remain on
+deck till they had received the goods they had bargained for.  Some
+liquor on this was brought up, and they were asked to take a drop.  The
+old man again advised them not to touch it, and took hold of his oil-jar
+as if he was about to lower it into his canoe.  Notwithstanding what the
+old man said, two or three of them tasted the grog, and then, first one
+and then another, went down below.  The old man cried out to them, and
+was about to lower his jar into the canoe, when, at a word from the
+captain, one of our people seized it, while another caught hold of him.
+The interpreter at the moment appearing, declared that the oil had been
+bought, and that he had no business to carry it away.  By this time half
+the natives were below.  The old man struggled, he was knocked down, and
+when his companions came to his assistance they were knocked down also.
+Before they could get up again their arms were pinioned, while those who
+were below were treated in the same way.  The captain declared that the
+savages intended to take the vessel, that he did not believe they were
+Christians, and that in his own defence he was obliged to carry them
+off.
+
+"`You will understand, my lads,' he said to us, `if any questions are
+asked when we get to Brisbane that's the answer we must give.'
+
+"The canoes of the savages alongside were sunk, and letting draw the
+foresail, we stood away along the coast, while the natives were stowed
+snugly below.  The captain seemed highly pleased with this successful
+commencement of our voyage.
+
+"A short way further on, as we saw some natives on the shore, the boat
+was sent in to speak to them.  I went in her.  As we approached the
+beach, two young men were seen swimming off towing a quantity of
+cocoa-nuts, which they told the interpreter they wished to barter for
+any goods we had brought.  They were invited to come into the boat, but
+were timid, and replied that we might have the cocoa-nuts, but must hand
+out in return what we had to give.  A few articles were accordingly held
+up, and they were invited to come and receive them.  Fearing they might
+escape us, the moment they came alongside they were seized by the hair
+of their heads, and hauled into the boat.  They cried out, saying that
+they were sons of a chief, and that, if we would set them free, we might
+have the cocoa-nuts.  The mate laughed at them, and told them if they
+would quietly come with us we would pay them handsomely.  As they began
+to struggle and tried to leap overboard, we had to hold them down.  This
+being seen from the shore, the people became alarmed, and put on so
+threatening a manner, that we were afraid of going nearer.  Having no
+chance of getting more natives, we returned on board with the two young
+men, leaving their friends raging and threatening us in vain.
+
+"The next place we touched at we were more successful, and got nearly a
+dozen on board, who seemed well pleased at the thought of seeing the
+world, and willingly agreed to sign the paper placed before them, though
+I suspect they knew very little about the meaning of it.  They were
+deadly enemies of those we had first taken.  The two tribes had been
+accustomed to fight and eat each other, but, notwithstanding this, we
+turned the last comers down below to make friends with the others.
+
+"We were standing away from the shore when two or three of the last
+party happened to hear how the first had been taken, and, becoming
+alarmed, attempted to leap overboard.  Our men who had handspikes in
+their hands hit at them to stop them doing this.  The blows, however,
+being somewhat heavy, two fell dead on the deck, while a third made his
+escape to the shore.
+
+"It was a bad job, for we had hoped to obtain more labourers from the
+same place.
+
+"We got several, however, both men and women, from the Island of Vate.
+Here the captain had an agent, a clever fellow, who, for a musket and
+tobacco, was ready to do anything.  He persuaded the natives that if
+they would go on board the schooner, they would be carried to a
+magnificent country, where, after working for a few moons, they would
+make their fortunes, and be brought back in safety to their own island.
+
+"The natives are almost as black as ebony, but tall and well-formed,
+wearing a broad wrapper of matting round their waists, and their hair
+gathered up into a bunch at the top of the head, and ornamented with
+feathers; while the women wear a curious tail, which hangs down behind
+them to the calves of their legs.  The men also wear bands of shells
+round their necks and arms, and rings in their ears.
+
+"They seemed pretty contented when they came on board.  The captain, by
+the agent's desire, gave each of them a present to send to their friends
+on shore.
+
+"`Mind you take good care of them, captain,' said old Sneezer, the name
+we gave the black agent.  `Be very kind, and bring them back all right.'
+
+
+"`Ay, ay, never fear,' answered Captain Squid, and he winked at the old
+fellow.  `We know how to treat people properly aboard here if they
+behave themselves.'
+
+"You would have supposed by their looks that they were going on a party
+of pleasure, but they soon changed their note, poor wretches! before
+long.
+
+"We got a good many people from the Island of Erromanga, where old
+Sneezer was very useful.  The natives, I had heard say, had murdered
+some missionary fellows--Williams, and Harris, and others--and of course
+it was but right, the captain observed, that we should punish them, so
+we need not be in any way particular as to how we got hold of the
+savages.  Old Sneezer used to go on shore in the boat, and talk to them,
+and persuade them to come off to us, and in this way we got about thirty
+or so without much difficulty.  He tried to persuade one fellow he found
+fishing in his canoe off the leeside of the island, and as he said he
+did not want to leave home, Sneezer lugged him into the boat, and then
+sunk his canoe.  He shrieked out, thinking he was going to be killed;
+but we told him he need not be alarmed, as we were only going to steal
+him.  Another black fellow we found on the shore alone, but he would not
+come either, because he had got a wife and family at home, so Sneezer,
+without more ado, clapped his arms round him, and we hauled him into the
+boat, telling him that we were only just going to another island near at
+hand, for a short time, and that he would then have his liberty.
+
+"While pulling along the coast of another island in the boat, three men
+came off to us in a canoe.  Sneezer told them, as usual, the good luck
+in store for them.  Two of them believed him, and agreed to come with
+us; the third jumped overboard.  The mate struck out at him with the
+boat-hook, hooking him in the cheek, and hauled him on board.  `Now, my
+lad, come with us,' says he, `whether you like it or no.'  We soon had
+them on board, and stowed away below.
+
+"We had now a full cargo; indeed, we could not well take in any more.
+The black with a hole in his cheek, and some others, didn't quite like
+the treatment they received, and the first, making his way on deck,
+insisted on being put on shore again.  He was at once knocked back into
+the hold again; he tried to get up, followed by others, some of whom had
+their bows and arrows, which they had been allowed to keep, it being
+supposed that they could do no harm with them.  They began to shoot
+away, and a general fight took place in the hold, when the captain,
+thinking the blacks would gain possession of the vessel, ordered us to
+fire down upon them.  The supercargo, who was, I'll allow, a precious
+villain, afraid that some of them might be killed, and that he should
+lose part of his cargo, though otherwise not caring for their lives,
+told us to shoot them in their legs, but not to kill them.  It was all
+dark below, so that we could not see in what direction to fire.  Some
+cotton was therefore fastened to the end of a long stick, and lighted;
+and when this was held down into the hold, we could take aim.  Three
+savages were shot, and, being hauled upon deck, were thrown overboard:
+two who were dead floated quietly away, but the third was alive, and we
+saw him striking out towards the distant shore; but he soon sank, for
+either a shark got hold of him or his wound prevented him swimming
+further.
+
+"After this we hove up the anchor, and making sail shaped a course for
+Brisbane.  We had to keep a sharp look out after our passengers, and
+make them fast whenever they came on deck, for fear they should leap
+overboard and drown themselves.  When in sight of land we had a hard job
+to keep them quiet, and generally found it more convenient to make them
+stay below.
+
+"Had the passage been long we should probably have lost a good many of
+them; but as it was, only three or four died, and we landed the rest in
+tolerable condition.  The captain said that they had all come on board
+of their own free will; that if they had changed their minds since, that
+was no fault of his.  They were soon engaged by the colonists, who
+wanted labour at any price.  He had no difficulty, in consequence of the
+favourable report he made, of again getting a licence, and without loss
+of time we sailed on another cruise.
+
+"We had kept more to the eastward than usual, when it came on to blow
+very hard, and we had to run before the gale out of our course a
+considerable distance, the captain being very much vexed at this loss of
+time.  The gale had somewhat moderated, but it was still blowing hard
+when we caught sight of a sail which, as we neared her, proved to be a
+large double canoe, with twenty or more hands on board.  The captain
+thought she would prove a good prize, as we might sink her and carry off
+the people, and no one be the wiser.  She consisted of two large canoes,
+so to speak, some way apart, but united by a strong deck placed upon
+them.  Through the deck were cut hatches, to enable the people to go
+below into the canoes, and above the deck was a square house with a
+platform on the top of it.  As we drew near, intending to run her down
+old Sneezer advised us to let her pass, as she belonged to Fiji, and as
+he said the people would give us more trouble than they were worth, as
+they were savage fellows, and would neither work in their own islands
+nor in Australia, and would very likely murder their masters.  We
+accordingly let them go, and away she flew close hauled on a wind,
+though the supercargo sighed, as he thought of letting so many
+fine-looking fellows escape us.  The gale ceasing, we hauled up, and
+stood back for Erromanga.
+
+"Old Sneezer was as useful to us as before.  On his first visit to the
+shore he persuaded a dozen natives to come off, by telling them that he
+had plenty of pigs on board for a feast they were about to hold.  Very
+fat pigs they were, according to his account, and plenty of tobacco, so
+that they might smoke from morning till night to their hearts' content.
+We took them off in our own boat not to alarm the rest, by having to
+sink their canoe.  When they got on deck they asked for the pigs and
+tobacco.  The only answer they got was finding themselves shoved down
+below.  They shrieked and cried out till the mate went among them with a
+thick stick and made them quiet.
+
+"We were not quite so successful at the next haul.  Sneezer got off six
+fellows as he had the former ones; but they heard the others cry out
+before we had them secured, and tried to escape.  Three were knocked
+down in time, but the other three leaped overboard and swam to the
+shore.  The captain sang out for a couple of muskets; one however was
+not loaded, and the other would not go off, and the men escaped.
+Knowing that we should get no more labourers there, we had to make sail
+and run to another place.  After this we got several quite quietly, and
+they were induced to put their marks to the paper shown to them, and to
+believe all that Sneezer said.
+
+"One day we pulled in to the shore a few miles south of Dillon's Bay,
+where the surf ran too heavily to allow us to land, but Sneezer caught
+sight of four men on the shore, and hailing them, said he was their
+friend, and had plenty of tobacco to give them if they would come off
+for it.  They all swam out to us, when in our eagerness we caught hold
+of two of them somewhat roughly, perhaps, and hauled them into the boat;
+the others, taking the alarm, swam back and escaped.
+
+"You see in this trade, as in every other, we have our disappointments.
+
+"We had heard of the skipper of a trading schooner, who somehow or other
+got on very well with the Erromangians by treating them kindly, I
+suppose, and paying them what he promised.  So says Sneezer, `I will
+tell them Captain Tom has got a new vessel, and this is her, and that he
+wishes to see them.'
+
+"On this Sneezer went on shore, and nearly two dozen natives came off to
+see their friend Captain Tom.  They were then told that he was in his
+cabin, when they were easily persuaded to step quietly down below.  As
+may be supposed, we didn't let them come on deck again.  What they
+thought about the matter, or what their friends on shore thought about
+it, I don't know; perhaps the next time Captain Tom touched at that port
+they might not have been inclined to be so friendly with him as before;
+it's just possible, indeed, that they might have knocked him on the head
+without inquiring whether or not he had paid them a visit a short time
+back, and carried off some of their people.
+
+"The natives we had last got began moaning and groaning, and cursing
+their folly, because their chief, who was a Christian, had warned them
+beforehand, and told them that he feared some trick might be played, not
+liking the looks of the vessel.
+
+"In this way, we managed, as before, to complete our cargo, and to land
+them all, with the exception of a few who died, at Brisbane.
+
+"We after this made several successful trips, and I should think the
+colonists must have felt very grateful to us for the free labourers with
+whom we supplied them.
+
+"There were a dozen vessels or more engaged in the same trade, the
+supercargoes of which mostly managed matters in the same way we did; if
+they did not they must have had great difficulty in collecting
+labourers.
+
+"The `Pickle' had, however, run her course.  After we had got most of
+our cargo on board we were caught in a heavy gale, and had to batten
+down the hatches to escape going to the bottom.  Our passengers must
+have found it tremendously hot, for the gale lasted several days, and
+all that time we had to keep the hatches on.  When it moderated a
+little, and we went below to inspect our cargo, we found some had broken
+their arms and others their legs, tumbling about in the hold, while a
+dozen more were dead or dying.
+
+"Things were bad enough, but they were to become worse.  The gale came
+on again, and while we thought we were clear of the land the vessel
+struck on a coral reef.  The sea beat over it, and we held on to the
+rigging, but scarcely was she on the other side, where it was tolerably
+smooth, than we found the water rushing in through a hole which had been
+knocked in her bottom.  We had just time to get out the boat and jump
+into her, when down the vessel went, with all those under hatches.
+
+"It is said that a good many of the labourers who leave their native
+islands never get back again; this accident will account for a hundred
+or more, and of course the authorities in Queensland were not answerable
+for it.
+
+"We managed to save our lives, and were picked up by a Sydney vessel.
+
+"Having found the business profitable, I shipped on board another craft
+engaged to take natives to the Fiji Islands, where labourers were much
+wanted.
+
+"Having touched at several places, we called at the Kingsmill Islands.
+Here we got a good many natives in one way or another.
+
+"We were about making sail, when in the evening a black fellow came
+alongside in his canoe to sell mats and fowls.  We persuaded him, as it
+was late, to sleep on board.  As the wind was pretty fresh, he willingly
+agreed.  Next morning he was somewhat surprised to find that the
+schooner had got under way during the night, and he found himself one of
+a gang of seventy men and fifteen women, whom we had secured, bound for
+Fiji.  The supercargo, to quiet him, told him that we were only going
+across to another island close by, and would land him there.  The others
+we kept pretty peaceable by similar tricks, though they kept asking
+somewhat anxiously, when they were to be put on shore.
+
+"At last we reached one of the many islands of the Fiji group.  I had
+never been there before; but I had heard that the people were terrible
+cannibals.  So they were till the missionaries persuaded the king and
+his chiefs, and most of his subjects, to give up the practice.  A
+considerable number of white men have of late years settled on several
+of the islands, and have bought land to grow coffee and other things.
+They find a difficulty in getting the natives of Fiji to work for them,
+so they have to obtain labourers from other islands, and this was the
+work our schooner was engaged in.  Our cargo was quickly distributed
+among the planters, some taking ten, some twenty, or as many as they
+could get.
+
+"The natives of Fiji are black and fine big fellows.  They wear their
+hair frizzled out, and big turbans on the top of all; some of them,
+indeed, wear great wigs over their own hair, for the larger a man's head
+is, the more important he thinks himself.  This makes them look very
+tall; indeed, many of the chiefs are very fine men.  They also wear
+ornaments of all sorts, necklaces, and rings, and beads round their legs
+and arms, and they stick into their ears huge ornaments, while large
+brooches hang down over their breasts.  The common people, however, wear
+very little clothing at all, and many of the chiefs who have turned
+Christians, dress something after the English fashion, as they fancy; or
+at all events, cover their bodies with robes of their native cloth.
+
+"I found a number of English and Frenchmen, and people of all countries
+settled on the islands, and there are a good lot of grog shops, so that
+they may be said to have made some progress in imitating civilised
+people.  In some of the wilder parts of the country, however, the
+natives are still cannibals, and do not scruple to kill and eat any
+strangers they can catch.  Not long ago they were addicted to that
+unpleasant custom, so that any strangers wrecked on their coasts were
+sure to be eaten.  When they could not get strangers they ate each
+other; sometimes a dozen, and sometimes even twenty slaves, were killed
+for one great feast.  Altogether from what I heard of the people, I had
+no fancy to stop and live among them.
+
+"I must say this much for the missionaries, that they have cured them of
+their worst habit.  At some of the villages I visited, where the
+missionaries have been long established, the people were as quiet and
+decent, and well-behaved as any I have been amongst; too much, as I must
+own, to my taste.
+
+"They are capital swimmers, and seem as much at home in the water as on
+land.  The women swim as well as the men.  At one village I stopped at,
+where, though they had given up eating human flesh, they did not pretend
+to be Christians, I saw a curious sort of game played by the girls.  A
+stout post was stuck in the water some way from the shore.  On the top
+of it was laid the trunk of a large cocoa-nut tree, the base resting
+near the shore, and the tip projecting beyond the post over deep water.
+The fun was for the girls to run up the inclined tree at full speed, and
+then to leap off from the point and swim back to shore one after the
+other, as fast as they could go.  Twenty or thirty girls could play at
+the game together, and such shouting, and shrieking, and laughing I
+never heard.
+
+"However, as the vessel I had come in, the `Thisby,' was returning to
+Australia, I went in her.
+
+"We got a few natives from the Kingsmill Islands, the New Hebrides, and
+other places, and carried them to Brisbane.
+
+"Our skipper having landed them in good condition without difficulty,
+got another licence to bring back a further cargo of fifty natives--for
+the Government officer didn't think the vessel had room enough to carry
+more.  Our captain and supercargo, however, had a different notion on
+the subject.
+
+"We managed to pick them up much as we had done others.  Of course it
+was the same to the natives whether they went to Queensland or Fiji.
+Instead of fifty, by the clever management of our supercargo and
+interpreter, we got altogether a hundred.  The captain said it would
+never do to return with so many to Brisbane, and hearing that there was
+still a great demand for labour at the Fijis, we shaped a course for
+those islands.  The accommodation for our passengers was not altogether
+such as civilised people would have liked.  We had run up a number of
+shelves round the hold on which they stowed themselves at night.  They
+were all stark naked, and they had no mats to lie on, but we could not
+of course expect these savages to be over particular.
+
+"We had a dead beat to windward for the best part of a month, and by
+that time our cargo, as may be supposed, hadn't much improved in
+appearance.
+
+"As ill luck would have it, when we arrived off the port we were bound
+for, what should we see but a man-of-war at anchor.  As we were short of
+provisions and water, we were compelled to run in and make the best of
+it.  Before long the captain of the man-of-war came on board, and not
+only rated our skipper and supercargo for the condition the blacks were
+in, but declaring that our papers were irregular, which it must be
+confessed they were, landed the blacks and took possession of the craft.
+I and the rest of the crew lost our wages, and had to go on shore again
+and look out for ourselves.
+
+"I hadn't been there long before a fine brig came in with only a dozen
+natives.  The owner was on board, and he and the captain had had a
+quarrel because the latter had refused to receive any passengers who did
+not come of their own free will, and sign the agreement with a full
+understanding of the meaning.  The captain, who was, I thought, a fool
+for his pains, had to give up the command, and two or three of the men
+who were of his opinion, were landed with him.  I having no such
+scruples was glad enough to join her as second mate.  Most of her crew
+were either Sandwich Islanders or Tahitians.  The owner having got
+another master who was accustomed to the trade, we sailed to the
+northward to visit a number of islands lying on either side of the line,
+intending also to cruise about the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands,
+where we hoped before long to get a full cargo.
+
+"The owner said his vessel would carry three hundred at least, and that
+number he was determined to obtain.
+
+"I have told you before how the vessels engaged in this trade are
+accustomed to pick up their cargo.  Our owner was a man for dodges of
+all sorts, and there was not a device he left untried to obtain men.  At
+one place he pretended that the brig was a sandal-wood trader, and
+offered to give double the price which had ever been given before,
+provided it could be brought on board the next day.  His hope was that a
+number of natives would go and cut it, and that each man would come back
+with the result of his labour.  He was not disappointed.  The next
+morning we had a score of canoes alongside.  He would only let one man
+at a time come on deck, and as soon as he appeared he was invited below
+to receive payment.  The first two or three who came received even
+double what the owner had promised, and were allowed to return to their
+canoes.  This made all the rest eager to come up, and as soon as they
+had gone below they were gagged and pinioned, and passed into the hold.
+By this means we got sixty men, even the very last not suspecting the
+trick that had been played.  The first three were also enticed on board,
+supposing that their companions were receiving even more than they had.
+We towed the canoes out to sea, where we sank them, and continued our
+voyage.
+
+"When we approached a place where Christian natives were to be found, we
+hoisted a missionary flag, and the interpreter going on shore told the
+people that one of their dear missionaries was on board, when a number
+eagerly came off to visit him, and were somewhat surprised when they
+found themselves handed down into the hold.
+
+"This dodge answered so well that we tried it several times, generally
+with the same success.  The owner having heard that a bishop, or a man
+of that sort, who wears a long gown and preaches, was in the habit of
+visiting many of the islands, determined to find out where he had most
+friends, hoping, by a dodge he had thought of, to make a grand haul.  He
+had had a coat and hat made which he said was just like the bishop's,
+and another for the interpreter.  Rigged in these they went one day on
+shore, and began preaching to the natives who collected round in great
+numbers.  What they said I don't know, it must have been something
+curious, I fancy; but the savages who had never had a visit from the
+bishop before, though they had heard of him it seemed, were mightily
+pleased.  Some wanted to come off at once, but the owner replied that he
+should be happy to see as many as chose to visit him next morning, and
+that he had a number of things he should like to give them.
+
+"Pretty nearly a hundred came alongside the next morning in their
+canoes; the difficulty, however, was to secure them.  At last the
+interpreter thought of a plan.  He told them that the bishop was sick in
+his cabin and that he could only see three or four at a time; but that
+there were praying men in another part of the vessel who would be happy
+afterwards to talk to them.  By this means, a few at a time being got
+below, the greater number were secured.  At last the remainder began to
+grow suspicious, and one of those below shouting out, they made a rush
+to the side, and leaped overboard.  A few were secured, but several made
+their escape, when the owner ordered us to fire on them.  Several were
+hit and sank, but the rest reached the shore, thinking, I have no doubt,
+that it was an odd way for a bishop to treat them, and vowing that the
+next time they caught sight of him they would make him sorry for what he
+had done.
+
+"We played a trick like this at several other places, but, as the bishop
+was known, the interpreter, rigged as a parson, going on shore, told the
+people that the bishop was ill on board, but would still be very glad to
+see them if they would come off and pay him a visit.
+
+"By this and all sorts of other means we at last got a full cargo of
+between two and three hundred people.
+
+"It seemed to me that we had a pretty large cargo already, but falling
+in with another vessel belonging to our owner, he took out of her sixty
+or seventy natives, and sent her to collect more, while we continued our
+voyage.
+
+"Among the natives we had received on board were three young fellows
+from the island of Anietium, the most northern of the New Hebrides,
+which I once before had visited to get a cargo of sandal-wood.  I
+remembered making friends with one of the natives, a lad, and having
+given him several articles, of no great value to myself I must own,
+though they pleased him mightily.  Of the three we had now caught, two
+were perfect young savages, with their hair frizzled out, and sticking
+up at the top of their heads in a curious fashion, and big ear-rings in
+their ears, though with no clothing on, except round their waists.  The
+other was clad in shirt and trousers.  I saw him looking at me, and
+presently he put out his hand, and, taking mine, spoke to me in English,
+and I found that he was the very lad I had before known.  He had been to
+New Zealand in the meantime, and had become a sort of missionary to his
+countrymen.  I told him I would do my best to help him while on board.
+He said he didn't mind labouring, but thought it was his duty to remain
+at his island to try to make the people Christians.  The owner only
+laughed at him, but remarked to me that if he had known he spoke
+English, he would have let him alone, as he might be telling tales to
+the authorities.
+
+"We were somewhat overcrowded, as may be supposed.  It was bad enough
+for the savages, but worse for a man who had seen something of civilised
+life.  I took my friend food, and let him remain on deck during my
+watch, as he promised me that he would not leap overboard.
+
+"We were delayed by calms, and one day we drifted in close to the island
+of Poru.  How the blacks knew where we were I don't know, but somehow or
+other they found out that we were near the shore, and, without a
+moment's warning, they managed to lift off the hatches, and up they came
+swarming on deck, with all sorts of things they had got hold of in their
+hands.  The owner and captain rushed out of the cabin, crying out to the
+crew to assist them, and drive the savages down below again.  I was at
+the time at the bowsprit end at some work or other, and my missionary
+friend was in the bows.  Just as I looked round on hearing the noise, I
+saw the owner and captain knocked down, and in a moment their heads were
+almost cut off, and they were hove overboard.  The first mate had come
+up with his revolver, fighting for his life, and shooting the natives as
+fast as he could right and left.  By chance he had shot one of the crew
+who had gone to his assistance, and the next instant he himself was
+knocked down, and treated as the captain and owner had been.  I had been
+making my way into the bows to assist them, when my friend Maka seized
+me by the arm, and dragged me down the fore hatchway.
+
+"`Their blood is up now,' he whispered.  `Stay quiet till they cool
+down, and I will save your life.'
+
+"I followed his advice, and he stowed me away under a heap of clothes in
+the foremost bunk.
+
+"The native part of the crew didn't join the blacks, but I can't say
+that they seemed to me to be doing much to help the owner and white men.
+
+"A strong breeze had sprung up off the land, which I guessed the vessel
+was fast leaving.  I had been hid away some time, when I felt as if I
+was suffocating; and unable to bear it longer, I threw off the things
+above me, and found that the fore peak was filled with smoke.  I at once
+knew that the vessel was on fire.  I was nearly dropping back, when I
+felt a hand seize me, though I could see nothing for the smoke, and I
+heard Maka's voice, saying, `Come on deck, I will save your life.'  He
+dragged me up, and I sat down for a moment on the heel of the bowsprit.
+Smoke was coming up through the hatchways, and flames were already
+bursting out in the after part of the vessel.  The blacks, seized with
+terror, without stopping to get hold of anything to support themselves,
+were leaping overboard, and striking out for the far-distant land.  I
+never before saw such a sight, three hundred of them in the water
+together.  It seemed to me that they would have very little chance of
+ever reaching the shore, but their only thought was to get away from the
+burning ship.
+
+"Maka had an axe in his hand, he put another into mine, and we set to
+work to cut away whatever would serve to form a raft.  We got hold of
+several spars and ropes; we had little time to spare, for we expected
+every moment to have the flames burst out beneath our feet.  We at last
+got our raft overboard.  Maka had secured some meal and a small keg of
+water.  We had just time to lash ourselves to the raft, when the flames
+burst out forward, and the ship was on fire fore and aft.
+
+"By this time we could just distinguish a dark line in the water, which
+marked where the blacks were making their way towards the land.
+
+"`Poor fellows,' said Maka.  `Very few swim so far.'
+
+"Our case was bad enough, for even with a couple of paddles, which we
+managed to make while on the raft, out of some spars we had brought for
+the purpose, we could scarcely hope, with the breeze against us, to
+reach the shore.  Our water and provisions would not hold out long, and
+no vessel was likely to come near us.
+
+"It was near evening when the fire broke out.  The sun went down, but
+the flames of the burning vessel lighted up the ocean around us, and
+then the full moon rose, and seemed to cheer us up a little.
+
+"Maka talked to me about my soul, for he didn't seem to think that we
+should have much chance of escaping with our lives; but I begged that he
+would not put gloomy thoughts into my mind.  He sat and talked on; the
+truth is, however, I couldn't understand what he was talking about, it
+was all so new to me.
+
+"Towards morning the vessel burned to the water's edge, and then the sea
+rushing in, down she went, and we lay floating, with only the light of
+the moon to cheer us.
+
+"When the sun rose I found that we had drifted still further from the
+land, which was no longer in sight.
+
+"It is not pleasant to think of the time I spent on that raft.  Several
+days went by, and we consumed all our meal and water.  I thought I
+should die, and at last was more dead than alive.  I lay on my back with
+my eyes shut, and a piece of wood under my head which Maka had put there
+to prevent the water washing over me, while he sat up by my side singing
+hymns, and keeping up his spirits in a way I could not have supposed
+possible.
+
+"While I thus lay I heard him give a shout, and he helped me to sit up.
+I saw the land which I didn't suppose we were near, and a canoe with
+four natives close to us.  I suppose they were Christians, for instead
+of knocking us on the head, they took Maka and me on board, and welcomed
+him as a friend, giving us food and treating us very kindly in their
+village, to which they carried us.  We there heard that of all the
+savages which had been on board the brig, only thirty had reached the
+shore.  It's a wonder that even they managed to do it, considering the
+distance.  The rest had been drowned, or picked off by the sharks.
+
+"I had had enough of carrying labourers to work for the planters of
+Queensland or Fiji--kidnapping, I fancy you call it; and so I determined
+to remain where I was.  However, as the customs of the Christian natives
+didn't quite suit me, I came away here, where I took a wife and settled,
+and intend to remain for the rest of my days.  I am too old to knock
+about at sea as I used to do.  Maka went back in a missionary vessel to
+his native island to labour on, as he told me, and try and make the
+people Christians.  I hope he will succeed if he wishes it, for he is an
+honest fellow, I'll say that for him."
+
+The old fellow thus brought his yarn to a close.  I am able to
+corroborate most of his statements, observed my young friend, for we
+visited many of the places he speaks of, and from the information we
+received I am convinced that he in no way overdraws the atrocious
+practices of many of the sandal-wood traders, or fellows engaged in
+kidnapping the natives of the Pacific Islands.  The villainous doings of
+the African slave trade is an old story and known to all, but as far as
+I can judge they do not surpass those of the kidnappers of the Pacific
+at the present day.  In the one case the white men merely received
+slaves captured by their own countrymen, and conveyed them across to the
+American coast; but in the Pacific we find white men, in some instances,
+depopulating whole islands, and capturing indiscriminately by fraud or
+violence, the natives of others, although nominally to labour as free
+men, yet in reality to be reduced to a condition little superior to real
+bondage.
+
+After I had heard old Ringdon's narrative, I felt more anxious than ever
+to get hold of some of these kidnapping gentlemen.  When, three days
+afterwards, the ship standing in took me and the boat's crew off, and I
+told the captain what I had heard, he sent to try to induce Ringdon to
+come on board, and give further information which might help us in
+capturing some of his former acquaintances, but the old fellow was not
+to be moved.  Indeed, I suspect that should he have the opportunity, he
+would be very willing, for a sufficient consideration, to act as agent
+to any kidnapping skipper who might think fit to employ him.
+
+I might mention several naval officers as well as consuls, missionaries,
+and respectable merchants at Sydney, Brisbane, and elsewhere, who would
+acknowledge that the main features of the account I have given are
+perfectly true, however much they might be inclined to doubt the word in
+ordinary matters of the old seaman who gave them to me.
+
+It should be clearly understood that old Ringdon's narrative refers to
+times gone by.  The Governments of Queensland and the Fiji Islands, now
+annexed to England have passed enactments for the prevention of the
+atrocious proceedings he describes.  At the same time, as there are
+numerous lawless white men living on the heathen islands of the Pacific
+similar in character to Ringdon who would be ready to ill-treat the
+helpless natives if they should have the opportunity, it is important
+for the cause of humanity that men-of-war should continually cruise
+among them to preserve order and to punish delinquents.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Kidnapping in the Pacific, by W.H.G. Kingston
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40691 ***