"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.