Three Years' Cruise in the Australasian Colonies [NZ sections only]

R. E. Malone

First published by Richard Bentley in 1854

Digitised and made available online by Auckland Libraries and the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services.

Epub © 2013 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927288-02-3

[TITLE PAGES]

THREE YEARS' CRUISE
IN THE
AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES.

BY
R. EDMOND MALONE .

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1854.

[The Author and Publisher reserve to themselves the right of Translating this Work. }

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS

[PREFACE]

PREFACE.

HAVING been employed in Ireland and Scotland during the whole of the misery, famine, and distress prevalent from 1845 to 1847, as Paymaster of H. M. S. 'Stromboli,' and afterwards living in Ireland till June 1849, I witnessed the most heart-rending scenes at Ballinskelligs, Kenmare, Rathkeale, and in the Western, Shetland, and Orkney Islands.

These scenes and a severe loss induced me to think of emigrating, but circumstances prevented it. From reading on the subject, I took a great interest in it, and was fortunate enough to get appointed to H. M. S. 'Fantome' going to the Australian and New Zealand station, where we were from 1850 to 1853. Having seen all parts of the Australian colonies – having mixed in every society – and having formed an impartial

judgment as to their several merits, some little account of the trip, from remarks in my Journal, may probably be of use at the present time. I passed nearly two years in the North American Colonies, and have visited the States, and can therefore speak of the Antipodean possessions in relation to them.

In order to make this little Work useful to intending emigrants, I have given the leading statistics of the Colonies, and referred them for more detailed information to the periodical Circulars of the Government Commissioners.

Gloucester Street, Gloucester Gate,
May, 1854.

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Leaving England – Madeira – Rio Janeiro – Cape of Good Hope.......... 1

CHAPTER II.

Arrival at Hobarton – Sydney – Auckland – Waiheki and Wangari in the Shouraka Gulf.........8

CHAPTER III.

Bay of Islands – Kawakawa – Korararika – Ruapekapeka Pomare's Pah and Tomb – Pokatutu – Kidihidi Falls – Mary Lockhart – Pomare's Daughter.........14

CHAPTER IV.

Departure from Bay of Islands – Wellington – Hobarton – Tasmania – Convictism – Norfolk Island – Aborigines – Exports, Imports, and Products – Trade – Whale Fishery...........25

CHAPTER V.

Tasmania – Climate – Aspect – Soil – Products – Hobarton – Demesne – Church Education – Markets – Morals – Country – New Norfolk – Mount Wellington – House of Assembly – Adjournment...........34

CHAPTER VI.

Tasmania – Races – Regatta – Ball on board the 'Fantome' – Pate, who struck the Queen – Deserters – Irish Political Prisoners – Society.........52

CHAPTER VII.

Auckland Islands – Discovery – Settlement – Southern Whale Fishery Company – Maories – Enderby Island Sea Lions – Walking and Shooting – Tide in Laurie Harbour – Naval Courts of Justice – Whale Captured – Cutting up – Maori Woman hangs herself – Enderby and the Law – Macquarie Islands – Auckland as a Penal Settlement – Population – Weather..........59

CHAPTER VIII.

Hobarton – Search for 'City of Melbourne' Steamer in Bass Straits – Port Phillip – Victoria Settlement – Buckley, thirty-two Years amongst the Natives – Geography – Melbourne and Geelong – Produce – Population – Resources – Extraordinary Expenditure of Police – Vine Cultivated – Stock – Imports – Exports.........83

CHAPTER IX.

Sydney – Swedish Corvette 'Eugenie' – New Zealand – Mana – Porirua – Dreadful Accident and Loss of Life – Wellington – Taranaki – Description of Settlement of New Plymouth – Nelson – Description of Settlement – Wairoa – Waimea – Croixilles – The Pelorus River – Queen Charlotte's Sound – Ship Cove of Captain Cook – Kapiti – Wellington – Difficulty of getting Information on New Zealand – The Hutt – Regatta and Races – Arrival at Sydney – Arrival at Auckland.............98

CHAPTER X.

Departure from Auckland – Passage in Colonial Brig 'Moa' – Jew Passenger – Sydney – Australia – Geography; Discovery – New South Wales – Exports – Imports – Products – Manufacturing Trade – Church and Education – Sydney University Charities – Sydney – Markets, Hotels, &c. – Domain..........122

CHAPTER XI.

Sydney – House of Assembly – Museum – H. M. S. 'Fantome' – Society – Balls – Botany Bay – Paramatta – Cities – Sports – Trip to Diggings – Hartley – Bathurst – The Turon – Sofala – Diggers – Women at Diggings – Roads – Climate – Port Curtis..........147

CHAPTER XII.

Gold Discovery – Value of Labour, &c, at Diggings – Diggers' Habits – Songs – Returns – Contrast with American Mines.........170

CHAPTER XIII.

Gold – Victoria Gold Regions – Licenses – -Produce – Ballarat – Buninyong – Bendigo – Diggers – Precious Stones – Plans of Digging – Hints..........197

CHAPTER XIV.

South Australia – Climate – Population Revenue – Exports – Imports – Mines – Stock – Constitution – River Murray – Soil – Aborigines – Adelaide – Weather.........222

CHAPTER XV.

Western Australia – Swan River Settlement – Climate – Soil – Products – Perth – King George's Sound – Population – Revenue – Exports – Imports – Immigration ...........232

CHAPTER XVI.

Arrival at Auckland – Houraka Gulf – Manukao – Town – Colleges – Billiards – Politics – Scenery – The Bishop – Pensioners – Statistics – Signal Station..........238

CHAPTER XVII.

New Zealand – Natives – Company – Division into Provinces – Provincial Councils – Climate – Canterbury – Bishop Designate – Statistics – Cannibalism – Otago – Overland Communication – Climate – Country – Stewart's Island – General Statistics.........249

CHAPTER XVIII.

Passage Home – Valparaiso – Cape Horn – Falkland Islands – Spithead..........266

CHAPTER XIX.

Emigration – Advantages of Australasian Colonies over others, and their comparative Merits – Passage out – Who should and who should not Emigrate – Difficulties in way of Land Purchases, &c. – Happiness in View for Immigrants – Things to take out – Emigration Returns and Commissioners' Regulations.........273

CHAPTER I. Leaving England...

THREE YEARS' CRUISE

IN THE

AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES.

CHAPTER I.

Leaving England – Madeira – Rio Janeiro – Cape of Good Hope.

HER Majesty's ships 'Calliope' and 'Fantome' left Plymouth Sound to relieve the squadron ('Havanah' and 'Fly') on the Australian station, Sunday, March 2, 1851. Rounding the west end of the Breakwater at 1.30. P.M. on a most lovely day for an English March, we anchored at Madeira on the 11th; the 'Pandora,' another vessel of our squadron, joining us there. Madeira is an excellent break in the commencement of a voyage, and the horse-exercise to the Corral, and other beautiful spots, does one a great deal of good after the monotonous confinement on board. We weighed from Madeira on the 16th. On the evening of the 22nd one of the largest flying-fish I have seen flew on board; he was 18 inches long, 22 inches between the tips of the wings, and weighed two pounds. We kept the trades till the 29th, in lat. 3° N. long 22° W.; when, with the therm. 872°, we crossed the sun, not to recross till on our return to

RIO JANEIRO.

England. The S. E. trades gradually breezed up here, and we kept them strong till the 6th of April, when, in lat. 13° S., we got the variables, which took us into the superb harbour of Rio Janeiro, where we found the English, French, and Brazilian Admirals and squadrons, and letters sent by the mail-steamer that had left England after us.

The scenery of Rio is magnificent in the extreme. The peaked mountain Corcovado, and a conical hill called Lord Hood's Nose (from its resemblance to that part of the "human face divine"), towering over the tropically-luxurious green slope down to the quietly-washed beaches of the lovely harbour, studded with bright green islets; the bristling forts of Gobernador, &c, the city on the southern shore; on the north, the delicious bap of Praia Grande, and the Braganza country, form a coup d'oeil seldom surpassed. Naples, Palermo, Dublin, and even some of the New Zealand bays, I prefer for their scenery; but Rio, as a harbour, surpasses them.

Extremes meet. The scenery I saw was magnificent in the extreme; the town is filthy in the extreme; and the nearer to the Emperor's palace the greater is the stench. Whatever the true Portuguese race may be here, the people you see appear a most degenerate, sensual-looking, depraved set; which appearance the existence of that anomaly in Christian countries, Slavery, with its concomitant evils, must tend to increase and keep up. It is a difficult problem to solve – What will become of the white race in this country? Should the blacks get the upper hand of their luxurious masters, and become free, will not the innate laziness of the Brazilians (the white race) fail to keep their tenure? In that case, although one

RIO DURING PASSION WEEK.

of the most magnificently-rich countries in the world, it would become a second San Domingo. The Anglo-Saxon race will never encroach here, so as to hold it, or indeed any other tropical country, not densely inhabited by a naturally-slavish race. India is no proof to the contrary. It is impossible that tropical India should ever be held exclusively by a white race, the black must do the work; and though in the inscrutable plans of Providence the white race may be the rulers to introduce the knowledge of truth and the records of revealed religion, the blacks once thoroughly Christianized, the white empire over them will cease.

Being at Rio in Passion-week, we witnessed the ceremonies and processions commemorating the holy season. The streets were lined with infantry, and the Emperor (a splendid man) and Empress joined in the procession. First of all was carried a coffin, followed by priests and laymen; then a full-sized figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary in immensely-valuable but gaudy robes, on a dais and large cushion, supported by bearers, followed by church and laymen, the latter in a kind of clerical dress, they being lay brethren of the orders and churches. A number of girls of about seven years of age, dressed lightly, with gauze wings like ballet-girls, tripped and danced lightly after them, supposed, I believe, to be imitating angel's movements. These were daughters of noblemen and people of high rank. Large masses of troops and militia followed. The churches were all magnificently lighted up; and the ornaments were, I think, more imposing and rich, but less gaudy, than those I have seen in Italy, France, or Spain. But I must allow that to me it all appeared a gorgeous mockery of true religion.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE,

H. M. S. 'Cormorant' towed us out of Rio, April 23rd, and after a noble run of 18 days we anchored in Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, May 11th, H. M. S. 'Vulcan' steaming in with us, with the 74th Highlanders, despatched from Cork in the greatest hurry to reinforce the strength in the colony. I met several of the officers ashore at the hotel, but all, as soon as the 'Vulcan' had coaled, were sent off to Buffalo Bay, where they landed and were soon in action on the frontier. They had to leave the women of the regiment behind; and as there was no money in town for bills in such a hurry, they were in great trouble, the paymaster being besieged by them on the pier-head, their husbands having no time to make arrangements.

Simon's Town is a mere collection of people brought there by the inducements of a naval-station. Hotels, public-houses, washerwomen, stables, tradesmen, and labourers of all description, whose whole subsistence depends on the business made by its being the headquarters of the Royal Navy in South Africa: for it has no other trade, and merchant-ships all go to Table Bay, a long distance by sea, and about 22 miles by land. It has its church, post-office, market, &c, and a fort, ungarrisoned at this time, all the soldiers being on the frontier in the Caffre war. The stables are numerous, and in great request for conveyance to Cape Town, the capital, particularly by the young middies.

With two of my brother-officers I took a trip to Cape Town. We were a motley group in the four-horse Dutch mail-waggon: a shoemaker who had served in the army in India; an old man who was a boy at Trafalgar; a Malay woman, with the grease of a whole sheep in her coal-black hair; and ourselves.

CAPE TOWN.

The waggon was dragged through soft sand, over which occasional rollers brought the sea up to the horses' knees, the driver having to get out often to induce the horses to work. He was a most amusing fellow; and his Dutch ejaculations to his animals were very rich; their names were, Apples, Windfull, Coffee, and Tailor – and Windfull did answer him to the purpose.

Cape Town is well built, on a flat, under the high Table Mountain; the streets are regular; the commercial rooms form a very fine building in a public parade. There are several squares; and it has its cathedral, and is the see of a bishop and the seat of government of the colony at present; but whether it is to continue so, or Graham's Town is to have the preeminence, appears doubtful. The botanical gardens are prettily laid out. The Governor and troops being absent, society was very dull. The hotels are very good and numerous. A female-emigrant ship, the 'Gentoo,' had lately arrived; her passengers had turned out very badly, and were talked of in Cape Town as the Gentoo girls: the accounts of the conduct of some of the officers of this ship were shameful.

The rides about are very pretty. On the race-course we saw some very fine horses: near it is the royal observatory – a fine conspicuous building, two miles from town. Mr. Mann, one of the astronomers, kindly showed us the beautiful measurements on the transit instruments, and the equatorial telescopes, &c.; but the day being rather heavy, we could see but little of the heavens. The villa town of Rondebosch (or Round the Bush), the retreat of the Cape Town fashionables from the hot, dusty town, is a romantic little place; and, indeed, all the environs are beautiful.

SIMON'S BAY.

Provision were dear; but the markets were excellently supplied with fish – steinback, skate, Cape salmon, barracouta, albicore, &c.: our men caught large numbers alongside the ship. It being May (English November), only late autumn fruit were to be had. Oranges, guavas, pears, &c.

I hardly recollect any place where a greater collection of foreigners is to be seen. The town, though peculiarly English, is traversed by a heterogenous mixture of all nations, among which, after the English and Dutch, the Malay feature predominates, the true African being seldom seen. One of the most striking things to a stranger is the appearance of the turns-out of horses, tandems, four-in-hands, and the immense numbers of large, heavy bullocks in teams.

The bulbs and heaths are particularly luxuriant; the soil is very sandy, but produces large crops. The wines we got were very poor; the Constantia (the best) being light and sweet, and not so good as the wine of that name I have had at home: they charged us 7s. 6d. a bottle at the hotel for it. It ought to have been good at that price. The language chiefly spoken by the colonists is Dutch; the laws Dutch; the manners Dutch;. the bills and notions Dutch; but the climate – oh no! not Dutch, but Italian, and delicious; the sandy soil being the only unpleasantness – especially in windy weather.

A dreadful accident took place at Simon's Bay, while we were there. Two young officers, one of the 'Orestes,' the other of the 'Pandora,' were drowned, from the swamping of a small private dingy alongside H. M. S. 'Castor,' two of the party of four being saved. Poor boys! they were in excellent health and spirits just before; and the news of the affair must have

CAPE PIGEONS AND ALBATROSS.

dreadfully shocked their friends: this had a sad, but I fear not lasting, effect on us all.

We left 28th May, taking on to the Australian colonies a mail brought out by the first or second Cape screw mail-steamer, of 13th April, which arrived a day or two before we sailed. Passing the islands of Amsterdam and St, Paul's – capital coal-depots for steamers in the Indian Ocean – we arrived, after an unfortunately long passage, off Van Diemen's Land, on the 12th July.

Large numbers of Cape pigeons and albatross followed us to St Paul's, when they left us, probably for a cruise ashore, as two days after we had an equal number about us – probably the same birds.

The albatross is indeed the king of birds; one we caught, among many, measured 10 feet 5 inches between the points of the extended wings; our boatman cooked all he could get, and ate them. I tasted some of his mess; but although it really was not bad, but like the white part of turtle, I could not fancy the coarse stuff, and merely tasted it – some of our young officers ate it heartily. Some of the small under feathers of the albatross are very beautiful, and nearly as fine as the delicate ostrich feather, or the soft down of the marabout.

CHAPTER II. Arrival at Hobarton – Sydney – Auckland

CHAPTER II.

Arrival at Hobarton – Sydney – Auckland – Waiheki and Wangari in the Shouraka Gulf.

H. M. S. 'Fantome' anchored off the port-officer's house at Hobarton, at half-past 10 P.M., 12th July, 1851; having had to beat up Storm Bay. We found the 'Calliope' had arrived; and although our passage was a long one, our April mail brought to the Cape by the mail screw-steamer was then considered a very quick one. The appearance of the city the next morning was exceedingly pleasing – so thoroughly English. It was Sunday: and after our long trip, the church-bells ringing; the quiet; Mount Wellington, capped with snow, above the city, from which the steeple of St. George's appeared to pierce it; the fine antique building of the high school in the distance; the parklike scenery, and absence of all bustle in the shipping (not often noticed in foreign ports), all brought to our minds the idea of a Sunday at home; and I can safely say, we were all delighted with this our first view of the first port of our station.

We were truly astounded at the accounts of the just-discovered gold in New South Wales; and to find that these colonies promised to become a second California, which has indeed been more than verified as to wealth: every one appeared mad on the subject. Our own ideas at the changed prospect of the colonies we were sent to protect for four years were difficult to

HOBARTON.

analyse. The whole country would undergo a great change: perhaps we were to be called on to act for Mamma, to keep her wealthy daughter in order: this thought was very momentary. The parent's peace of mind depends so much on the child's welfare, that an American lesson would not be needed; nor indeed are the colonies as yet anxious for anything approaching a separation from dear England: this I can vouch for now in all societies.

We heard of the recent wreck of the French corvette 'L'Alcmene,' Le Compte d'Harcourt, captain. It was considered a clumsy affair; and a Hobarton lady, just married to a Swede serving as a lieutenant in her, behaved nobly on the occasion. The loss took place near Hokianga on the west coast of New Zealand; 12 of her men were drowned, and the ship and her stores totally lost. The Maories behaved very well on the occasion; and the officers of the 11th regiment, at Auckland, acted nobly to their shipwrecked allies; in return for which the French officers, a year after, sent a very handsome picture of the wreck, by a French artist, to the mess, with an inscription to the purpose. This is, and will be while the regiment lasts, a pleasing ornament and reminiscence to them. As we remained at Hobarton a very short time, I will defer saying anything about it till our return.

Leaving Hobarton on the 17th of July, and anchoring twice in the Derwent, off D'Entrecasteaux Channel, between Brune Island and the main, we got clear of Storm Bay the 19th, and anchored in that most lovely of spots, in that most beautiful of harbours, Farm Cove, Sydney, the 25th. A pilot came off to us outside the heads of Port Jackson, and confirmed the Hobarton accounts of the gold discovery, and the

PORT JACKSON.

prevalent epidemic madness brought on by it. His remark was – "There's GOLD enough to COPPER all the ships in Port Jackson." There being no wind in the harbour, according to the pilot's account, we had to stand off and on for a couple of hours. The daybreak outside the port was the most lovely I ever witnessed; the air was pure, refreshing, and bracing, with a very light breeze; and just before the sun rose, the tints of the softest blue and red blended deliciously, and contrasted with the massive picturesque clouds in the east; these gradually got gilded at the edges, then became like burnished solid gold, then a fiery red, and formed altogether the most charming of sights. A painter would sink into despair at the uselessness of attempting so gorgeous a picture; particularly when in one minute the sun appeared – and Aurora stood before us alone, all else gone, and not a cloud in the pure blue arch of heaven.

Making sail about ten, and beating up the harbour against very light airs, occasionally assisted by our boats towing, we anchored at half-past two, finding H. M. S. 'Havanah,''Calliope,' 'Pandora,' and 'Acheron' in the port.

Port Jackson is one of the finest and most picturesque harbours in the world, capable of containing in its numerous creeks and bays, a larger fleet than has ever been collected together. Its only drawback is a shoal called "The Sow and Pigs," on which is a light-vessel. The city is built on a long arm of the land, jutting out into the south side of the harbour, with Farm and Sydney Coves on its eastern, and Darling Harbour on the western side; the former being the resort of Her Majesty's ships, and the two latter of the merchant navy. Captain Erskine, of H. M. S.

SYDNEY.

'Havanah,' and Lieutenant Pollard, had just returned from a trip to the diggings, preparatory to going home; they fully authenticated the apparently marvellous accounts of the gold, and the former officer took to England some large specimens, to be presented to Her Majesty, packed in a box of the most valuable native woods, the gratuitous work of Mr. A. Leneham, cabinetmaker of Sydney. During our stay of twenty-three days, I never missed a day on shore, in order to see everything I could; and indeed on all parts of the station, I made a point of seeing everything my duties would allow me: the weather was all the time incessantly beautiful, and the climate delicious.

The elections for the Assembly were going on, and the papers teeming with addresses, &c, convictism being the great test of the candidates. We were immediately made honorary members of the Australian Club, in Bent Street; and I take this opportunity of mentioning the kindness of the members, and the courteous, quiet, gentlemanlike tone of the club, with the great satisfaction afforded to myself, and I am sure to all the others, my messmates, by their attention. One must be in Sydney to fully appreciate the comforts of a club; for while the club is well managed, and one meets none but gentlemen there, the inns, without exception, are in both respects the contrary.

After we had refitted, we left the 10th August, and arrived in the Waitemata, or harbour of Auckland, New Zealand, the 26th. Our impressions on first arrival here were very gloomy: everything appeared wild and sombre; and I must say my English-formed ideas of New Zealand were unpleasantly shaken by this first visit; but the officers of the 'Fly' (which ship we relieved) liked it, and told us that one soon gets over

WAIHEKI.

the dislike of the boisterous wet weather. The 'Fly' left for England on the 29th, having been expecting us to relieve her several months. They had ingratiated themselves with the people, but appeared delighted to go home.

We landed five deer we brought for the colony from Mount Edgecumbe, Plymouth; the only buck was the day after, I regret to say, allowed to get over the enclosure, and in August, 1852, was still loose in the interior, in danger of being killed by the dogs. What a pity, after all the care and trouble taken in bringing him out such a distance! Only one buck came aboard the 'Calliope' in England, but fortunately one born on the passage proved a male.

We left Auckland, and anchored at Waiheki the 28th October. On the 31st we went to Wangari for a few days, and then to the Bay of Islands on the 7th of November.

Waiheki is a mountainous island in the Shouraka Gulf, with a small land-locked bay for a harbour; here we got any quantity of excellent firewood and water. The bush is filled with pigeons; they are excellent eating, but do not show much sport, as they sit quietly on the branches to be popped at; and though too tame for the thorough sportsman, they give you good exercise a la quadruped, the supplejack being so entwined in the branches and out-of-the-earth roots of trees, that the only way to get through is to crawl on all fours, and mind the cock of your gun. There were a few English sawyers located there with their wives, a wild class, and not overburdened with morals, as some of our officers know; and a few natives exchanged herrings and fowls for tobacco. The oysters here are so wonderfully plentiful, that in many places they literally

SHOURAKA GULF.

leave no spot of the rocks where they congregate uncovered. There was a little wooden barn, which had been used as a church, and at which I understood from the natives, the good, apostle-like Bishop of New Zealand, Dr. Selwyn, had on one occasion officiated. All the Maories here could read and understand a vocabulary-book I made a point of carrying ashore with me, till I picked up a little of their language. One of them showed me an English Bible; this, however, they certainly could not read, but it struck me they kept it for their white friends, for I have the highest opinion of Maori character.

In January 1852, a report existed in Sydney, that gold had been discovered in this island; and though untrue, it very probably will be, as it exists largely close to the opposite Coromandel shore. From this island, Auckland and its neighbouring settlements are chiefly supplied with firewood.

While entering the harbour of Wangari, to the north of the Shouraka Gulf, we took the ground on a sandbore off the edge of Mare's bank, but got off when the tide rose, in three hours. Here we shot great numbers of pigeons, parrots, and a capital-eating bird, which we called redbill. Some white men, but no natives, communicated with us from a small settlement near at hand, where a squatter (probably an old whale-master) had settled, farmed and stocked a great deal of land without any legal right, but merely allowed by the natives, as he was living with one of their women, and had children by her. We got excellent firewood here, but the water was bad, probably from want of care in getting it

CHAPTER III. Bay of Islands...

CHAPTER III.

Bay of Islands – Kawakawa – Korararika – Ruapekapeka – Pomare's Pah and Tomb – Pokatutu – Kidihidi Falls – Mary Lockhart – Pomare's Daughter.

ROUNDING Cape Brett, with a singular hole in the rock at its extremity, we anchored off Wahapu, at the mouth of the river Kawakawa. The different settlements in the Bay are generally called Russell, officially, the government having intended it as the seat of the New Zealand government at one time, and given it the name of the prime minister. It is now divided into Wahapu, the military cantonment, Pahia, a missionary settlement, and Korararika, the trading-place. Wahapu is purely military, there being no one on the islet but a detachment of 150 men of the 58th regiment from Auckland, their wives and children, with a few Maori servants. Opposite Wahapu is Pahia, a very pretty stockaded missionary settlement, with a chapel, a schoolroom, and some Maori houses, kept clean, with a little garden attached to each.

Korararika, so well known in New Zealand history, is to the northward of the other places a few miles, and is now a dirty collection of public-houses and shops for the supply of whalers' stores. It bears no enviable character. A Mr. Bateman, formerly a merchant captain, appeared the most, if not the only, gentlemanlike person there: he is a truly hospitable, kind Englishman, and we cannot forget the kindness we

KORARARIKA.

experienced from him and his amiable wife. He held the joint offices of collector of customs, post-master, and harbour-master; and with a great deal to do, and deprived of the services of his servant, their hospitality was not stayed. The girl was very young, and had prevailed on the Roman Catholic priest to go through some form of marriage between her and a man at the town, the document for which merely said, That finding them determined to live together, and there being no Protestant clergyman at the time present (rather an unusual thing at the Bay), he had permitted them to live together till an opportunity should offer for a legal marriage. Korararika has its Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, a court-house, &c, and about forty good houses, with a numerous allowance of Maori huts. Above it is the hill on which stood the several flagstaffs cut down by Heki, which act of his caused the outbreak in the north, and the consequent burning and desertion of Korararika. On it is now a small flagstaff without the flag, but a large staff, brought up to be planted by the crew of H. M. S. 'North Star,' is still on the ground, it being, I believe, thought more prudent not to erect it. From this hill we had a fine view of the Great Bay of Islands, called by the natives Tokirau (the Hundred Rocks), holding in its bosom so many islands, rocks, and headlands, and the entrance to the rivers Kerikeri, Waitangi, and Kawakawa, with Cape Brett in the distance, the houses of the church missionary settlement of Waimate, 16 miles distant inland, and a series of hills and mountains reaching into the far interior.

A party of three of us, including W – – -d, who had served with his regiment at the capture of Ruapekapeka, started at seven one morning for that pah, in

POMARE'S PAH.

a boat pulled by Maories, one of whom attended each of us with a tooth and hair brush, comb, and two changes of linen; tied up in our separate blankets with flax, together with a general stock of tongues, cold meat, biscuit, salt, mustard and pepper, beer, wine and spirits, besides a fryingpan and saucepan, all made up in as small a space as possible for carrying on their backs when we should land – an enormous load to carry the journey we were going; and it is astonishing how they bear it, pack it up so well, and sling it with flax so easily on their backs: but use is second nature, and they are well used to carry these loads. Just above the entrance to the Kawakawa, at its confluence with the Waikadi, an American wreck made its appearance above water, and a mile further are remaining the stockades of one of Pomare's pahs. Here were anchored some of the squadron engaged in the operations against the natives in 1845, 1846. We then pulled about eight miles up the Kawakawa, passing beautiful little pebbly beaches, topped by high rocks, over which thickty-wooded hills rose, with occasionally a low mangrove swamp on each side, till we got to Pokatutu's pah, when we landed and hauled our boat up, seeing the oars and gear looked after by the Maories of the pah.

The river here (we are ascending) winds under the base of a steep sandy-soiled hill, on the summit of which the pah is built; and becomes much smaller. The pah is stockaded, and at its entrance are disgustingly indecent male and female figures carved in the stakes (whole trees). I wonder the missionaries have not induced them to remove these, with all the good they have done and are still doing. Nearly every one was absent at the potato and corn plantations, and the

POKATUTU.

pah almost deserted. This pah was of great use to us in the attack on Ruapekapeka, its chief being friendly, and our commissariat having their depot there.

After leaving Pokatutu's pah, we walked. through a grove of peach-trees laden with unripe fruit, and crossing a stream twice, over our knees, followed a path (called in New Zealand a native path) through low fern and titree in blossom, till we came to the right of a native village called Wiome, one of Tawiti's settlements. Tawiti was Heki's fighting-man, and the Maories told us he was at hand, but we did not see him. We then passed some splendid dense woods of high trees of the various New Zealand kinds, surrounded by the short but most graceful tree-fern, growing, as if so arranged, all round the edge of the wood, and having a peculiar effect. At a little rivulet near this, and about four miles from Pokatutu's pah, we stopped, opened our blanket-bags, and took a hearty lunch, and started again after a pipe (an invariable travelling companion in the Australian colonies). The whole way now was a path uphill and downhill, a succession of ascents and descents. From the hills we got beautiful views of the valleys below and the distant Bay of Islands, with the rivulet winding towards Pokatutu's pah. We longed to bathe in it, for it was very hot; but we soon did without the bath, for it commenced raining and never ceased till we got to Ruapekapeka, and this part of our walk was the most fatiguing I had ever experienced at that time. There were four and a half miles of hilly country, with a path barely a foot and a half broad, over a soft loamy soil, with thick fern on each side, and an occasional variation of half-burnt fern. As it rained as if it meant it, our faces and clothes were in a nice black

RUAPEKAPEKA.

state from the burnt fern; and the streams literally pouring down the descents, our walking was not the most steady, as may be conceived better than described. A short distance from Ruapekapeka the path led through a defile, in which our troops (we were told) might have been taught a severe lesson. Getting nearer the pah, we came to several encampments of our parties, and at last (at about, I should think, half a mile from the pah), to the final station of the attacking force under Colonel Despard, 99th regiment. All this encampment is now overgrown with fern and titree, but was clear during the attack. We saw the graves of the sailors and soldiers killed, with a few stakes remaining round them. A broken flagstaff on the ground, and a broken soda-water bottle, &c., gave us evidence of the position of the mess-tent. (One of our party was an officer of a regiment engaged there.) There were still the remains of several wares, or huts of fern and flax, put up by our men, as well as many of the stakes forming the stockade round the ditch. This is about 14 miles from Pokatutu's pah; and all this way, by the very path we had come, were drawn up by seamen the guns of the men-of-war at the bay (' Hazard,' &c), canoes being their carriages for the occasion. Close on the right of our pah, fronting Ruapekapeka, are the stakes of the friendly Maori stockade. Emerging from a thick bush under our encampment and mounting the hill, we came to the pah itself.

This pah was taken quietly on a Sunday, after very hard unsuccessful fighting before, the natives believing that Christians would not fight on that day; at least that is the story we heard, there may be another side to it. It was built by Tawiti, after the capture of

POMARE'S PAH.

Owyawy, and was thought by him to be impregnable. They were four months building it; and on dit that in an interview with the governor, Tawiti said they would build no more pahs – they proved useless after this capture. Having never seen a stockaded place before, I can form no idea of its comparative strength. It is formed of enormous trees for stakes, in some places doubled and trebled, with intervals of three or four feet, and ditches between each and around. The trees were riddled with musketry, and many evidently destroyed with round shot. We saw a 32-pounder shell unburst in the potatoes now growing there. One of our natives, a Christian, with the name of Ihaiah, or Isaiah, was one of the defenders we suspected, from his evident perfect knowledge of everything connected with the defence. The interior is a potato-ground, with only one deserted ware and two potato-stores; the former was full of fleas, and the two others, being raised from the ground on posts, and pretty clean, we made it our resting-place, after well smoking it. The custom of building their wooden sheds on posts off the ground is to keep the rats off. We would have preferred an impromptu-made ware of fern, flax, and titree on the ground, but it rained so hard and incessantly, we could get nothing dry that night, and so put up with the potato-store, in which there was barely room for the three of us to stretch ourselves. We lighted jolly fires right under the stores, as the rain, out of their shelter, would have prevented anything burning; and after shooting some pigeons, the first thing, the natives immediately roasted them. After cleaning them, they, in a most primitive way, put a small thin stick, about two feet long, right through each bird, and stuck it, in a slanting position, over the

THE KEDIKEDI FALLS.

fire, in the ground, changing the side as required, and throwing some salt and pepper into the upper aperture. We found them, although just shot, excellent, and, with our other good things, made as good a dinner as any alderman in London. These curiously-rigged officers, and as many native servants, in an old Maori pah, with the pigeons "kuku-ing," and the parrots "kaw-kawing" to us to come and shoot them for our dinner, on the trees close to us. The birds were deliciously tender and good, and potatoes at hand in the ground were not suffered to remain there; for a traveller in New Zealand is always welcome to use them on his journey. After our day's walk, and a good smoke, we managed to pig it out in the potato-holes, kept clear for a time of mosquitos by the smoke of the fire, which our natives kept up, and rose in the morning as well as ever, without the sign of a cold, and slaughtered lots of the pigeons and parrots, called, not euphoniously, kukupa and kawkaw, from those birds cries.

We took a boat-trip to the falls of Kedikedi one day. This river is generally broader than, but not so pretty as, the Kawakawa, but is filled with rocks and shoals, from which it derives its name of Kerikeri, or Kedikedi, the sounds being nearly alike. About nine miles above its mouth we came to the very quiet, pretty little missionary settlement of the same name, their house being built on the side of a small fall. Here we landed, and then walked about three miles through low fern to the Falls; they are about 80 feet high, and 40 broad, with a cave, worn inside, into which we got by a rather narrow path, over a fallen tree. The cave is worn into the shape of the inside of an open oyster-shell, placed horizontally; over the open end of

THE WAITANGI FALLS.

which roars the fall, the spray from which is dashed inside like an incessant heavy shower, and wets one through instantly. It being a sunny day, the rainbow seen from the edges of the dark damp cavern, into which the sun never pierces, was very pretty. The cave is covered inside, above and below, with fern and other green shrubs and grasses, and is a mass of the freshest green. Yates says its native name is Waianiwa-niwa, or Waters of the Rainbow. All their names are prettily significant. The falls of the Waitangi, another river, not far from the Kerikeri, are very much prettier, but not so grand, and their name is very poetical, Waitangi, literally, Waters Weeping.

The Karetu is a winding little rivulet, debouching into the Kawakawa. We pulled up to it, and on getting to Pomare's deserted pah, we found a Maori woman, called Mary Lockhart, well-known in the colony, and to many in England, for her conduct in the disturbances. She had just returned from a visit to Mr. Clendon, the resident magistrate at the bay, and to the chief at Pokatutu's pah, to get some satisfaction for a serious and brutal attack made on her a fortnight before. Four powerful, fine, armed natives came with her, with spears and tomahawks, and, I doubt not, concealed fire-arms not far off: they certainly were splendid specimens of men. She spoke English very well, and told us that she was with her child a fortnight ago in her house, when four natives with tomahawks came in and accused her of going to Pomare's grave (which is tabooed); that they beat her, broke open her boxes, scattered her tea, sugar, flour, &c, on the fern; broke her crockery, took her linen and what they could carry away in the canoe; threw what they could not in the muddy banks of the river, and did all the mischief

POMARE'S TOMB.

they could, short of killing her. She knocked one man down, and told us that had she had a spear she would have killed him. The chief aggressor was a son of Pokatutu, married to a daughter of Pomare, the great chief; and Mary denied the act, although, being a Christian, she said there would have been no crime in it. We saw the greater part of her things brought back by her armed protectors, but not all; and another meeting is to take place to settle it. Mary was, at this time, about five feet seven inches, tall, and of a commanding appearance, of about 30 years old, and not tattooed. I may be permitted to speak of her, for she was a great friend to the English during the war, and is well known to all concerned in the northern proceedings. She, poor woman, had lived a wretched life, as a very young girl; had been amongst the whalers at Korararika, till taken notice of by an officer of one of the regiments, on whose bounty she now lives, although he has left her long ago, and is, I believe, in England. She has one white child, whom she takes care of, and, I believe, educates. She was very glad to see us, and was very hospitable, and is living in a comfortable house. Talking of the attack on her, she said, "These people pretend to be mihaneri (missionaries – the universal name, in New Zealand, for Protestant Christians), and believe in their old Tabou; I have my Bible, and don't believe it." It is said, however, that she is very superstitious; that she brought on the violence by offending the chief's feelings in going to Pomare's tomb to eat by it, as a charm for the cure of a sore in her throat, contracted in her younger life, and which, it is feared, will carry her off.

Pomare's tomb may as well be described as a specimen of that of a great chief. It is close to the pah on

POMARE'S TOMB.

the Karetu, made of wood, like a hollow mast, three

feet in diameter, about eight feet high, painted red, with a ring of flax round the centre and feathers and flax ornaments pendent from it, and a mat on the hollow top. I regret to say I had the bad taste to get on the back of one of our party, and, lifting up the mat on the top, to find myself disappointed by seeing nothing but mouldy linen in the bottom; no bones of the warrior chief.

A curious and melancholy story was told of a daughter of old Pomare's, whose tomb I saw and will afterwards describe. I did not know this tale before I looked into it, or I certainly would not have done so, but curiosity led me. This poor girl was very fond of an officer of a regiment there during the war, and would not leave him, but followed him about, and insisted on being with him. On his being ordered home, he asked her for a merai (a green stone adze much prized as a tabooed or sacred article by all the native tribes). She offered him anything and everything else, but this was her father's, the chief's, and belonged to the tribe, and she could not give it. After his leaving she returned to her father, and told him this; on which he said she must be bewitched, that the officer was her husband (and, as it were, at the head of the tribe), that she should have denied him nothing, and that her refusal would be the ruin of the tribe. Pomare died shortly after, prophesying that his daughter would soon follow, which the poor girl did (but more probably from pining after being thoroughly devoted to him).

On her death the merai was sent away by the tribe, to avoid the foretold miseries; but they still say the merai is punishing them. Where the merai now is we could not find out.

POMARE'S TOMB.

The daughter died some time in 1850, about a year before our visit. She was buried in a sitting posture, in a description of chair big enough to admit the body, and built up from the knees to a line with the back as far as the neck, and from this the chin was supported on a stick put across to the side of the chair, a sheet sloping over the tops of the chair. I removed the sheet, and saw nothing inside but decayed rags, &c, so her remains must have been taken away. This chair, or tomb, was in the centre of a one-roomed ware or hut; and on the side of the ware, fronting where her face was, still hung a looking-glass, and a pair of English female boots was on the floor. One of our party was present at the death and burial of this girl: he would not accompany us to the interior of the ware. Both this ware and Pomare's hollow tomb are enclosed by stakes, and the interval from the stakes, of about five yards round, overgrown with fern, dock-weeds, &c. I do not believe any Europeans but ourselves have seen the interior of these tombs, nor do I think the tribe generally know that they are empty. The whole pah is strictly tabooed; and we entered houses, in each of which were either guns, pots, canoes, or parts of dress, books, fishing gear; in fact, everything was just as the place was left by them after the taboo on the daughter's death.

Everything could be got at the Bay. Beef, 4d. the pound; bread, 4 1/2d. the pound; firewood, 9s. 4d. the ton; washing, 3s. the dozen. They publish no newspaper there.

CHAPTER VII. Auckland Islands...

CHAPTER VII.

Auckland Islands – Discovery – Settlement – Southern Whale Fishery Company – Maories – Enderby Island – Sea Lions – Walking and Shooting – Tide in Laurie Harbour – Naval Courts of Justice – Whale Captured – Cutting up – Maori Woman hangs herself – Enderby and the Law – Macquarie Islands – Auckland as a Penal Settlement – Population – Weather.

WE left Hobarton 30th April, beating a fine colonial brigantine, the 'Eucalyptus,' just built to make fast trips to Melbourne, and a pretty specimen of colonial shipbuilding, and arrived at Sarah's Bosom, the anchorage of the Auckland Islands, 8th May 1852. We were sent here to prevent disturbances during the breaking up of the establishment on its utter failure.

The Auckland Islands were discovered by Bristow, master of the 'Ocean,' a whaler, belonging to the London firm of Enderby, in 1806. He gave the lat. 50° 48' S., and lon. 166° 42' E. In 1807 he landed pigs, which have increased to a wonderful amount.

H.M.S. 'Terror' and 'Erebus' remained at these islands in the Antarctic voyage nearly a month, and they made the position of their observatory (about a quarter of a mile due north of our position) lat. 50° 32' 30" S., long. 166° 12' 34" E.; and found the magnetic dip 73.12, variation 17° 40' E.; high water at full and change twelve o'clock, and highest spring tides not exceeding three feet. This was in November 1840.

THE AUCKLAND ISLANDS.

Captain Cook passed very near the islands in 1773, but did not see them.

The French southern expedition of 'L'Astrolabe' and 'La Zelee,' remained here a week in March 1840; and the United States expedition ship, 'Porpoise,' at nearly the same time.

The harbour we anchored in Ross is called Rendezvous Harbour, and the two coves, Erebus and Terror Coves. The formation is chiefly basalt and greenstone; the soil a collection of decayed vegetable matter for many feet, and in nearly every direction, except Enderby Island, a swamp, although it is covered with stunted trees, ferns, and plants.

In consequence of the favourable description of Sir James Ross, the Enderby firm conceived it would be a great advantage to them to have these islands as a rendezvous; and from their interest in whaling, and the discovery of the Aucklands, government gave them the leave; which crown grant of the lease was assigned by the Enderbys to a company formed under the title of the Southern Whale Fishing Company. The grant gave the company sole control of the islands, the privilege of selecting a site for a whaling station, free of cost, and of dealing with the residue of the land as they might deem most desirable, the company and the grantees to divide the net proceeds accruing therefrom. They commenced with the intention of making these islands the recruiting-place for the men and depot for the oil-stores, and provisions for their whalers, as well as to carry on colonising and farming operations on shore.

They appointed Mr. C. Enderby, one of the directors, the resident commissioner of the company; and the commissioner was also appointed by Her Majesty a lieutenant-governor.

WHALE FISHING COMPANY.

Thus they were to unite whaling and farming operations, and to have the sole benefit of the supplies to their seamen; their storekeeper having every requisite with him, besides which their own agent was to, be the chief executive in the embryo colony. Powerful advantages certainly!

Three small whalers left England in August 1849 to commence the settlement. They took with them, for the colony, medical men, clerks, a surveyor, a storekeeper, boatmen, coopers, shipwrights, carpenters, smiths, bricklayers, masons, agriculturists, and labourers, with sixteen women and fourteen children, besides the lieutenant-governor and assistant-commissioner. They arrived in December 1849, and commenced their operations ashore and afloat at once.

On their arrival they found about seventy New Zealanders, who had been there eight years, and had pigs and some potatoes. The company commenced well in settling amicably with these people for their claims, and inducing them to remain there.

The history of these natives was as follows: – Two tribes of Maories from Port Nicholson in Cook's Straits took possession of the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand in 1835, after killing most of the aboriginees and making slaves of the remainder. The 'Jean Bart,' a French merchant-vessel, anchored at the Chathams, and her crew were all destroyed.

After this the natives quarrelled among themselves, and a party left and were taken down to the Aucklands. The chief, Mateoro, on one occasion got talkative, and gave a description (true or not deponent sayeth not) of the 'Jean Bart' affair. According to him, directly she anchored, her crew commenced trad-

THE MAORIES.

ing for the various necessaries with one of two parties. On the arrival of the other party alongside, the first tried to prevent their dividing the trade; and quarrelling together, the Frenchmen (or "Oui ouis" as the Maoris invariably call them) thought that they would be attacked, and took the initiative, on which the two Maori parties joined and did not leave one Frenchman alive. Mateoro added that he had killed some, saying, "That nothing; you fight Oui ouis" (from oui, yes, for Frenchmen) "Ingerani" (in England); "me all same, fightem, killem here."

The commissioner wrote to his directors in England in April, giving the most exaggerated and ridiculously flattering account, misleading the company, and causing great losses. He described the potatoes and cabbages to be of excellent quality, and the Swedish turnips better than those in England; and spoke of the soil as rich beyond description, forgetting to add that it was so impregnated with the rain of ages as to be nearly a swamp.

On our arrival we found the assistant commissioner in charge, with a paper signed C. Enderby, appointing him acting lieutenant-governor. A Mr. Dundas, M.P., and a Mr. Preston, one a director, and the other the secretary of the company, had arrived from England, to make inquiries, and with full powers to act for the company as they should deem advisable. They persuaded Mr. Enderby to resign and leave the settlement, and left Mr. Macworth, the assistant, orders to break up the establishment, ship the stores in the vessels, and await their further directions, while they went to New Zealand and Sydney to do the best they could for the company; and we arrived while they were making a finish, remaining there till all

ENDEKBY ISLAND.

their ships, men and goods, had left on the 5th of August.

The settlement consisted of a large house for the governor, a zinc-covered store, a building for unmarried servants of the company, and about 25 other houses on a point of land at the entrance to Laurie Harbour. A battery of four old guns saluted us on arrival; the powder being damp, the discharge kept fizzing and puffing down the bank. The settlement was named Hardwicke, after the chairman, Lord Hardwicke, R.N., and the harbour Port Ross. Several of their vessels were at anchor, taking in the stores, in which work our men assisted, and we passed a most miserable time. It hardly ever ceased blowing a gale, and the rain was incessant, with very few days excepted; and when it was fine, the ground was so thoroughly saturated that it was terrible work walking.

Enderby Island, about seven miles off, has some good pasturage, and there are still some cattle and the remains of one of their farmhouses on it. Landing at a cove close to a sandy beach, we walked through thick bush, stunted, twisted, and gnarled trees, with occasionally clear ground with excellent grass, but all swampy, and occasionally we sunk up to the knees. At about three miles from Sandy Bay (the landing-place) we killed a splendid sea-lion. He was about 20 feet above us, with his head above the bush, with us between him, and the seaweedy rocks below about 100 yards. Directly he saw us he roared, and rolled his head from side to side, showing his teeth and mouth. After sending two balls, one into his mouth and the other into his eye, he flapped down towards us, trying to get to the sea; but as he passed we clubbed and killed him. He lived some time, however, with the

SEA LIONS.

two balls in his head, and a cut in his belly a foot in length, with his entrails protruding. We found him an immense animal, 10 feet high, with immense jaws and teeth. His first appearance in the bush was just like a lioness, of the same colour and with a similar head; but the likeness ceased directly he cleared the bush and his fins appeared. We afterwards killed several. These animals get a great distance into the bush; and considering they have no legs, but fins, they swallop their way down through the bush very fast. We came across a herd of 16 bullocks afterwards, and two were wounded, but got away. The plan adopted in hunting seals is to have but one double-barrelled gun, the rest of the party being armed with clubs; the small seals are easily killed with the clubs.

The kelp or seaweed on the shores is of immense size, some 20 fathoms long: the Maories make water-bottles out of it.

Walking is most fatiguing, even on level land, as in Enderby Island a walk of five miles round the bays is equal to twenty on cleared ground.

Some of us were on the point of giving up during our walks in the bush: we should in all probability have died from cold and wet. Half the time you are on hands and knees, trying to make way through supplejacks and twisted roots, and then up to your knees in swamp.

The farms, and there are several, are everywhere failures; nothing grows to any size, although every care seems to have been taken.

The potato and vegetable gardens are fenced round with stakes; and every fourteen feet inside with the same, to keep the wind off, looking like sheep-pens, but all to no purpose. The potatoes are about

LAURIE HARBOUR.

an inch and a-half in diameter, and bad; and the turnips run down like miserable radishes: the only vegetables we ever got there were, once or twice, some of the leaves, dressed like spinach. The Maories, at a small pah of theirs at Ocean Point, grew the best cabbages and turnips, but they were good for nothing.

Ascending the hills over Hardwicke, we found some thick, fine wood, but not of any height; and getting through this, we got into comparatively open ground, with rotted tufts of roots in swamps, and then to some grass-land, with here and there laurels and shrubs of all kinds, some very fine ferns, but no large fern trees, wild rhubarb, &c.; and among these were the most beautiful mosses and lichens, some exactly like the round sponge-like white coral. From here we had a fine view of Laurie Harbour, a long funnel, five miles deep, nearly through the island, with a low, swampy isthmus at the farther end joining the two mountainous sides: through this the wind blows almost always fearfully.

On one occasion I missed my way, and got more and more entangled in the thickly-connected bush. I crawled on hands and knees through underbush and swamp, occasionally getting up the low trees to see my way. I had no gun this time to make a noise to call others, and finding myself thoroughly fatigued, with my clothes torn to pieces, hail and snow coming down thick enough to blind me, I lighted a pipe and sat down, and, knowing no one could find me, and feeling unable to get on any farther, I began to think it likely I might be frozen in the night. I wished many acts of my life undone; and I must acknowledge I prayed for assistance, and again urged on, and hit upon the path, and soon got on board. Luckily I did so, for it

MARINE BIRDS.

was a fearful night, hard frost, snow, and hail, the settlement being covered with snow all the next day, and a whaleboat on the beach having been literally lifted up by the wind (it was placed keel up), and blown into the water and stove, a thing that happened often. I did not tell others of this trip; they would not have seen it in so serious a light as I did myself.

We had some good pot-shooting here. Toois were the most numerous: they are a pretty black bird, with two white feathers hanging from the neck, which give them the name of parson-birds; they are about the size of a blackbird, and on whistling under a tree, numbers of them would perch close to you, and allow you to pick them quietly off. Two guns have brought down four dozen in a few hours. While there our fellows (the officers) killed 302 toois, 144 wild duck, 12 sea-lions, 6 parrots, 2 snipe, 8 bullocks and cows, and 3 calves; one whale being shot by the company's men, and 54 sheep and a few more bullocks and pigs being killed for food. The wild pigs were not very eatable; they tasted so strongly of fish, from feeding on dead seal flesh and fishy birds.

We got a few eggs occasionally from the settlers at 2s. a-dozen; and the Company charged us 7d. a pound for beef, and 9d. for fed pork; the former was bad, and the latter seldom to be had.

Great quantities of marine birds frequent the islets and rocks – mutton-birds, shags, gulls, Cape pigeons, albatross, &c.; and enormous beds of cockles exist at the head of Laurie Harbour and in other spots.

The water is good, but of a dark colour, from the nature of the soil.

Immense numbers of rock cod were caught, but, without exception, they all had the flesh filled with

THE MAORIES.

small worms, about a quarter of an inch long. We could not eat them, but our men did; and, indeed, they were very good, but for the appearance of these worms: we all tasted them, but could not fancy them from this, even when we were living on salt provisions, although in taste they were excellent.

The Maories, 47 in number – 20 men, 17 women, and 10 children – lived in wares near the settlement, with a regular-built house for the chief Mateoro.

The settlement had had five surgeons, but no chaplain, and the governor had performed the few marriages and christenings, besides two burials.

The harbour is perfectly safe. Westerly winds prevail. There are no dangers, with the exception of Bristow Rock, the break over which was seen on several occasions. It is in all probability a pinnacle rock, rather nearer the shore than laid down in the chart: we passed it coming in, and several vessels have seen the breakers. One of our officers pulled round it, but could not get close enough to see the rock, the breakers were so threatening. The master was anxious to fix proper marks for it, but could get no assistance from the commander; he put up, however, two temporary marks, to keep the bearings from the land, but they must long ago have been blown down.

At the head of Laurie Harbour there is a most extraordinary tide: in the course of ten minutes our dingy would be afloat, and high and dry, the water rushing down; then a short interval, and coming up again very fast. This was carried on with the ebb and flow of the regular tide: when the tide was ebbing, this intervallic movement would be each time a little lower than before, and vice versa. Sir J. Ross noticed a remarkable oscillation in the tide near high water:

NAVAL COURTS OF JUSTICE.

after rising to near its highest, the tide would fall two or three inches, and then rise again three or four inches, so as to exceed its former height rather more than an inch.

On the 22nd July 1852, at about a quarter to nine A.M., we felt the shock of an earthquake; it lasted about three-quarters of a minute. The ship trembled like a steamer getting up her steam, and there was a noise like the rolling of casks on the deck. It was felt by nearly every one ashore; some describing it as lasting ten, and others half a minute. The day after we exercised firing: at the first shot millions of a very small fish rose instantly to the top of the water (some jumping clear out of it), and appeared greatly frightened. We had fired often before, and this had never happened: could the earthquake have had anything to do with it? It was a most lovely day, one of the very few fine ones we experienced.

Shoe Island, close to the anchorage, affected the compass very much, the whole of the formation being highly magnetic.

We saw everything in a fair way for clearing the islands, and were about to leave early in June, when the commissioner applied to the commander to remain, his life having been threatened, and being under the impression that violence of all kinds would be certain to take place in our absence; so we were detained, to our disgust.

The seamen of the whalers were very difficult to manage; they were anxious to get to the diggings, and yet they struck work on several occasions, trying for increased wages.

Several naval courts of justice were held on board, under the provisions of the excellent bill of Mr. La-

CAPTURE OF A WHALE.

bouchere, the Mercantile Marine Bill, 13 and 14 Vict, cap. 93, sec. 82, the commander, senior lieutenant, and master of a whaler forming the court, with power to administer oaths, summon witnesses, &c.: a most useful law, as was proved in this case, where there was no really legal power to enforce justice without it. The court sentenced several offenders to twelve weeks' imprisonment on bread and water, and there being no way of imprisoning them in the island; they were kept on board the 'Fantome.'

One vessel, the 'Hardwicke,' arrived 31st May, with hardly any oil, from a four months' cruise; one man dead, four in irons, all ill of scurvy, and out of flour, having been, by their captain's account, three weeks beating off the island, unable to get up to the anchorage.

There was a small boarded hut intended for a prison; the first person put in it was one of the surgeons of the settlement, for drunkenness, &c, and from that it was generally called R – – -'s Castle; but when we were there it was in ruins.

One morning a whale was reported, and the boats of the settlement started in chase; we followed in our slower boats to see the fun. After seeing him rise several times, the mate of one of the whale-boats struck him with a harpoon, fired from a harpoon pivot gun in the bows of the boat. He rushed away with the line, and dragged them about a great distance, till being well lanced and exhausted, he sank, and we buoyed him. Two days after he rose, and all the boats in the place, including ours, towed him to the 'Fancy' whaler, six miles. Here he was secured alongside, the whole body being secured with hawsers and chains round the fins and tail by tackle from the

CAPTURE OF A WHALE.

fore and main yards; the gunwales were unshipped, men standing on the whale and assisting.

One of the whale captains got in the chains, and, with a long-handled kind of sharp-edged spade, made the first, or, as they called it, the bride-cut; this he kept plunging in a zigzag way across the body behind the head, and then a parallel cut of the same kind near the tail, and then crossways. The piece so cut was fixed on to a strong hook and tackle and hoisted on board. On the first cut the escape of foul air was so great, and the stench so unbearable, that I was sick for some time, and the noise was like the rush of steam from the boiler of a steam-engine when the steam is eased off. After this piece was got in, other pieces were dealt with in the same way, till the whole of the outside covering, or fat, of the whale, was got on board. The outside cuticle is thinner than the finest black tracing oiled paper. Under that, there was half an inch of thick black stuff, looking like India-rubber, except in two or three parts of the body, where it was quite white; and then the pink-looking blubber which surrounds every part of the beast, and is about eight inches thick. This, with the tongue and whalebone, was all that was got on board; the rest of the body of the beast was left useless. It was a young cow-whale come in to calve, about 45 feet long, and yielded five tuns of oil and some whalebone. This was the first and only whale ever taken in the islands, notwithstanding all the expectations and the numbers seen in the bay; and it was quite a holiday in the settlement, every one, even the women, some of them with children at the breast, came to look at the beast. They did not remain long, however: it was a disgusting sight, and the stench was intolerable.

CUTTING UP A WHALE.

After they had got all of him they wanted on board, the crew gave three cheers, and next morning they commenced cutting up and trying. The masses about the deck were first cut with sharp spades, three inches broad, into pieces of about 12 pounds weight; these were pronged up by a man constantly at work, and thrown into a tub, by which was a table, a man being employed passing them on to it. Here another hand chopped them into slices of about three-quarters of an inch thick, with a sharp instrument three feet long, which he held by handles in each end, and used very quickly. These slices are slid into another tub with great expertness, a boy being employed turning a grindstone, while one keeps sharpening the tools all the time; and every one appeared to have his heart in the work, and to take pride in it, and in showing us the mysteries of cutting up, &c. The fires having been lighted, some oil was boiled in the large coppers, and then slices of the blubber thrown in and boiled. As they became crisp they were taken out and put into the fires, which are in a great measure kept up by this crisped whale-blubber, from which all the oil is taken by boiling. All the instruments are well adapted, and are constantly being changed and sharpened during the work; cisterns of water run round the under part and sides of the boilers and furnace to prevent fire. The whalebone, the article of commerce that our civilized ladies envelop their chests with, answers the purpose of the gills of a fish, as well as a strainer for the mouth. In this whale it was in long ribs of about eight feet long, in the centre gradually tapering away with a beautiful screwed angle, fringed inside with hair. In some whales there are as many as four hundred of these They are about six inches broad in

LIFE OF A WHALER.

the centre of the top of the jaw, but very thin, and losing their breadth towards the ends, where they come almost to a point; all is black. The inside of the jaw is a hollow curve, and has a ligament along its centre, from which these ribs take their rise. The large bone – the proper bone of the jaws – as well as all the other hones of the animal, are useless; and the gills of a cod might just as well be called codbone as these be named whalebone. I got with ease inside the black, hairy-fringed mouth. The passage from this mouth to the stomach is very small, admitting only small fish. The eye is no larger than a bullock's, but the outside excrescence of the eye is much larger. There were no teeth, nor any signs of them in this animal, all the mouth being smooth except the before-mentioned mouth-fringe.

The carcase of this beast was allowed to remain floating about the anchorage till it got fixed in a little cove just large enough to hold it, and it was not destroyed six weeks after, although innumerable sea-birds were day and night at work at it, and the stench from the huge carcase was almost enough to breed a pestilence.

Of all lives in the world, I think that of a whaler must be the worst; nothing short of necessity would ever tempt me to take a single trip, after the scene of this whale.

In the southern harbour there are great numbers of ducks and toois, and some wild dogs and pigs in the bush, with hundreds of seals afloat and ashore. This harbour is a labyrinth of good anchorages, but the tide-drifts at the entrances are very dangerous for boats.

On the night of the 8th July, a Maori woman, of

SUICIDE OF A MAORI WOMAN.

about 30, hung herself; her husband having taken her younger sister, aged about 28, as his No. 2 wife; she thought herself neglected, and hung herself to a low branch of a tree near their hut, with her feet nearly touching the ground.

She was afterwards placed in a sitting posture on a chair, with only her face appearing, dressed in grand clothes, with a new cap and artificial flowers, and blankets and shawls round her, some green boughs being placed to form an arched covering for her, and her husband and sister were sitting by a fire close to her. They welcomed us, and the husband showed me the tree: the branch was so slender, I wonder it did not break with her weight. The sister appeared to feel the occurrence very much, the husband not at all: he asked me if pakeha (white people) ever did the same? I was obliged to tell him yes.

On the 11th, Mr. Dundas arrived from Sydney with directions to make a finish and proceed to Sydney.

Mr. Enderby, the late governor and commissioner, had got the two special commissioners arrested while at Wellington to make inquiries, late on a Saturday evening, on some charge connected with the money matters of the company, and they were very nearly being imprisoned and kept there on Sunday. Mr. Dundas protested against arrest for debt, as a Member of Parliament; and not having met with such a precedent in the colony, they knew not how to proceed: however, it ended by Enderby's getting some money for the time.

Mr. Enderby is as madly enthusiastic as ever on the subject of these miserable islands, and is anxious to go down again; but as he was not countenanced by Sir G. Grey in his ideas, and has since been reprimanded by the Government at home, I suppose he has by this time

THE MACQUARIE ISLANDS.

got tired of his subject. (Since writing this, Mr. E. has arrived in England.)

Some trials that took place with this Mr. Enderby as judge, prosecutor, law adviser of the court, and executor of the sentence, were very rich. The case of a woman trying another for libel in accusing her of crim. con. was ludicrously amusing; but as the prevalent taste for this kind of affair is easily gratified by the weekly papers, I will omit it.

Our boatswain (a kind of Robinson Crusoe), with three men, remained six weeks on an island, and lived on the birds, pigs, &c, he shot. They had four dogs with them, which the boatswain always described as two bull-dogs, a sheep-dog, and a pig-hound. On one occasion he shot one of the dogs. He told some of the officers, in the most mournful way, "I shot him, Sir, but I brought him alive to the house, and sewed his belly up with palm and needle, but I found him dead in the morning, Sir;" quite surprised at the poor animal's death after his surgery.

The whole affair was a failure: the most successful trips were, on the passage out in one of the ships, in the Mozambique, and the other to the Sea of Okotsk, near Behring's Straits; one vessel, while we were there, came back, after four months' cruise, with but 40 barrels. A party of 14 hands went in the 'Lord Duncan' to the Macquarie Islands, leaving the ship on the 5th December 1851. A vessel, the 'Countess of Minto,' looking for guano, was totally wrecked as the 'Duncan' was going in. It is not probable that any vessel had been there before for years; and it was a providential affair that the 'Duncan' was going in, as otherwise they might have starved, and never more been heard of. The 'Duncan' took her hands away, and left the party of 14.

THE MACQUARIE ISLANDS.

Their log is headed: –

"Elephanting party from Port Ross to Macquarie Island, from 5th December 1851, to 5th April 1852."

The log shows a succession of fearful weather.

"14 Dec. – Wind turned boat over, and stove her.

"20 March. – Wind from N.E. From the time we came down from the south end (7 February) with the boats, up to the present time, we have not had one fine day, for it has been blowing from all quarters, and raining or hailing all day and all night, and we have not seen anything lately.

"A ship was seen 30 December."

During the time they were at the Macquaries they killed –

"147 Sea Elephants,
1 pod of Elephants,
3 Sea Leopards;"

the most in one day being 27, 17, 13, 10, &c.; many days they could do nothing.

All the oil produced was left, as the following extract shows: –

"5 April. – Aboard the barque 'Brisk.' As there has been one boat's crew aboard the ship 12 days, and there has been no chance of getting the oil off, and there does not seem any probability of being able to get it off at present, all hands agreed to leave it till a future period."

Oil left 7 tuns, butts, 5 casks, 300 gallons, 1 [cask], 200 gallons, or 14 tuns, about 11 elephants to a tun.

This journal gives some idea of the weather at the Macquaries.

The oil was eventually got in 1853.

One night, July 24th, a large iron anchor, on a peninsula close to the anchorage at Port Ross, was blown down by the force of the wind; it could not have been hooked into the rock, for the rock is hard as adamant, and I should think unfit for building.

Many whales were seen on several occasions, but

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

the boats were never quick enough out, or else did not manage well, for there was only one taken during the settlement in the islands.

Three horses were brought from Sydney, but were taken away at the breaking up of the establishment, without ever having been found of the slightest use, from the nature of the ground. Mosquitos are very plentiful, and a great nuisance in the bush.

I believe the Aucklands have been thought of as a penal settlement; but while the Falkland Islands are a British colony, I cannot conceive why the former should for a moment be preferred: they are of no use. Whereas the Falklands are in a part of the world where we have no colonies, and are in the high road of traffic, and afford in every way more inducements.

There is no doubt that in the Auckland islands, however (supposing the wish to exist to make use of them), cattle, sheep, and pigs could be pastured to a large amount; and they would (and will as it is, if not killed by the Maories) increase enormously. All the cows and ewes that were killed, as we were leaving, had young alongside them, or were else in calf and lamb; and small quantities of very poor potatoes, cabbages, turnips, beetroot, and spinach might be grown quite as well as at the Falklands; but the want of sun, and excess of wind, will never permit farinaceous food (corn of all kinds) to grow. Fire-wood to any amount is to be had; and as it would be cleared away the ground might perhaps be drained, and made of use from its sloping and hilly nature. At the least, grass would grow on it, and some wood for use might be got eight feet long; but I doubt if any planks of greater length could be obtained: they are, although of such thickness and strength, so gnarled and bent, but splendid knees for ships could be got and made an

PENAL SETTLEMENTS.

article of trade. The stone is so exceedingly hard, it would, I think, be difficult to build with. Water exists everywhere, and in many positions could be easily brought into use for grinding imported corn, &c., and in fact for everything that water-power would be wanted for. Wharves could be built at many places with ease.

A ship would have to be constantly employed, as is now the case at Norfolk Island, to bring supplies of all articles, which might be purchased at Wellington, New Zealand, for the present. The wool and tallow could be exported; constant supplies of stores, wood, and water, kept ready for vessels requiring them, the vessels being under proper surveillance, to prevent the escape of prisoners. No prisoners could escape in boats, from the distance to any land and the dangerous nature of boating there. The freed convicts would, if they wished, be granted land, or could find their way to other colonies, which would be an inducement to them to behave well; and till houses were built, a prison-ship could be lashed to the small peninsula (an island at high water), close to the flagstaff station of the settlement. There are convenient separations by islands for female prisoners; while the well-conducted and approved might be allowed and encouraged to marry and live where they like on the islands. Sailing-boats should not be allowed, but all water duty done in whale-boats. Although there is constant rain and wind, and most unpleasant weather, yet the climate is extremely healthy, as the thriving appearance of the men, women, and children, and the increase of cattle, fully testify, and as the herbage springing up rapidly in all directions in June (midwinter) would lead one to suppose; but the latter is no criterion, for it grows only to be stunted by the

PENAL SETTLEMENTS.

winds. But indeed it is ridiculous to be looking for places to send our criminals to. These islands and others could only be the Norfolk Island of a large penal station, if we continue sending our prisoners away from home at such a rate as heretofore. Education and emigration will decrease wonderfully the numbers of our prisoners; and let us hope they will be tried, and reformatory punishments used, instead of treating them better than our paupers, sending them out nearly in the condition of free emigrants. (This is gradually being the case – 1854.)

While we were at the Aucklands in July 1852, there were on the islands –

123 Crew of 'Fantome,'
4 Merchant seamen, prisoners on board her,
40 Crew of merchant vessels in port,
36 Men,
22 Women,
34 Children,
20 Maori Men,
17 [Maori] Women,
10 [Maori] Children.
306 [Total]

On the 5th August, having seen the buildings broken up, and shipped the men, women, and children on board the company's vessels, and the vessels fairly at sea, we weighed and left these miserable islands. The Maories applied for a passage to New Zealand in the 'Fantome,' but were refused. One white man voluntarily remained to take charge of the few stores left, and to try to procure seal oil, with a hatch-boat under his care, and a number of cattle and sheep on the islands. And he hoisted the British flag as we sailed out.

Annexed is the wind and weather journal of the Auckland Islands, from 8th May to 5th August, from the log of H.M.S. 'Fantome.'

JOURNAL IN THE AUCKLAND ISLANDS.

JOURNAL IN THE

AUCKLAND ISLANDS.

JOURNAL IN THE AUCKLAND ISLANDS.

CHAPTER IX. [New Zealand]

CHAPTER IX.

Sydney – Swedish Corvette 'Eugenie' – New Zealand – Mana – Porirua – Dreadful Accident and Loss-of Life – Wellington – Taranaki – Description of Settlement of New Plymouth – Nelson – Description of Settlement – Wairoa – Waimea – Croixilles – The Pelorus River – Queen Charlotte's Sound – Ship Cove of Captain Cook – Kapiti – Wellington – Difficulty of getting Information on New Zealand – The Hutt – Regatta and Races – Arrival at Sydney – Arrival at Auckland.

WE moored again in Sydney Cove, on the 16th of September 1852, within a stone's throw from the steps under Fort Macquarie. We found people here getting very jealous of the rising importance of Victoria, and the wish of that colony to remove the seat of the general government to Melbourne.

Our drummer one night, in a fit of madness, went overboard and was drowned; and we buried him in the North-shore, the marines putting a tombstone to his memory.

The Swedish 36-gun frigate, 'Eugenie,' commanded by Captain Virgin, now the Swedish ambassador to our Court in London, paid Sydney a visit on her return from a scientific voyage round the world. The officers appeared a very superior set of men; all spoke English, and most of them had been in our service. Leaving Sydney, 2nd November, we got into Cooks Straits, dividing the two great islands of New Zealand, on the 8th; and not being able to beat into Port Nicholson, the harbour of Wellington, against a

MANA ISLANDS.

strong gale, anchored under Mana Island, with no one on it but an old deformed Maori woman, and a white boy. This island was a favourite residence of Rangehaeta, an old war chief, and is a miserable spot, with no trees on it, and no shooting. The wind invariably blowing through the strait, one way or the other, destroys the young trees; but numbers of sheep and goats depasture on the hill. We supplied ourselves with sufficient quantities of cheap and fine poultry; turkeys six for a pound; ducks, fowls, and eggs, proportionately cheap, and pigs fed on milk and potatoes; besides excellent cream and butter. The soil of this island is very rich, and, if drained and fenced from the wind, would produce anything. It affords excellent anchorage for vessels unable to get into Port Nicholson. Epi (meaning deformed), the old Maori woman, was out of tobacco, and we won her heart by giving her some; and she would always hand out some bread and butter and milk in our trips ashore.

A dreadful occurrence, which deprived us of a messmate and six ship-mates, took place while we were here.

On the main opposite Mana there is a settlement called Porirua, at which place we landed the mail for Wellington, to go by land 17 miles. While the boat with the letter-bags was ashore, application was made for the surgeon to look at a sick man, there being no medical man nearer than Wellington; and poor Dr. Bent, our excellent messmate, volunteered to go. The galley, with the captain, Dr. Bent, the carpenter and two of his men (who went ashore to get a spar for the maintopsail-yard), and the crew of five men, started from the ship at 9 A.M., Thursday, 11th November, for Porirua.

LOSS OF SEVEN MEN.

The boat not returning on Sunday, and hearing nothing of the party, we concluded the officers had gone to Wellington by land, while the carpenters and crew were cutting down the tree and preparing the spar. The master, however, thought it as well to go and see, and got a boat's crew in a small Hobarton harbour-boat we had, and left the ship. I was on the point of going, but for some cause (as I thought without any reason) the commanding officer made some objection, and I was obliged to remain, thereby, by God's mercy, being saved from drowning. On Monday morning the carpenter came on board with four men in the second boat; and, like a thunderbolt, the horrid shock came on us, that our messmate, Dr. Bent, and six men, were drowned. The galley shipped a sea about an hour after leaving the ship on Thursday; the sail was lowered by order, to bail out, but a second filled her; the sail was then hoisted, to send her as close to the shore as possible, the wind being on-shore; but a third roller turned her over, and all hands were in the water. Poor Bent, with others, got on the bottom of the boat, was twice washed off, and then kept himself up about ten minutes with a small American bucket he took with him: he was drifting gradually ashore, appeared perfectly collected, never spoke or showed signs of fright, but was seen to go down without an effort: he could not swim. Some got ashore on oars, another on the gangboard; and one was found on the beach alive, but recollected nothing. Four were drowned besides Dr. Bent. This was not all: when the jolly-boat was pulling in to make inquiries, near the same place, on the Sunday evening, in fine weather, she was lifted by a roller, the oars unshipped out of the rullocks, and the boat broach-

FUNERAL AT WELLINGTON.

ing-to, was turned over, and two of the crew were drowned.

All those saved were more or less injured, and the master's life was saved by a Maori woman, he being thrown senseless on the rocks. A Mr. Tandy and this Maori woman behaved nobly; and Mr. – – – , the master, rewarded the woman, and gave a handsome tea-service to the settler, Mr. Tandy, as a token of esteem for his character. The governor-in-chief, the colonel on the staff, and a military surgeon, were on the spot from Wellington, directly they heard it, to see that every assistance was rendered.

This cast a gloom over the whole ship, and indeed on the people of Wellington. Seven souls so suddenly brought before their Creator; but oh! how the impression wears off. We certainly know not what a day may bring forth. I particularly have reason to thank a wondrously-merciful God for His great mercy to one so undeserving and so unprepared to meet Him.

One of the bodies was found on the 17th, and the captain, myself, and a party went to Porirua to bury him. It was indeed a melancholy sight. Poor Myall! he was a splendid young man about 22. None of us spoke; one of our roughest men (his messmate), cried the whole time like a child. It was a fearful sight to see him. All the people about Porirua came round us while we placed his body in the sandy burial-ground of the temporary barracks there, and the captain read the Burial Service.

We left Mana and anchored at Wellington, 20th November 1852; and on Saturday the 27th a messenger from Porirua informed us (according to our directions in such a case) that our messmate's body was found. We had it brought into Wellington, and buried with

PORIRUA.

military honours in St. Paul's churchyard on the 28th, where an inscription is put up by his messmates. The whole of the officers of all departments of Government, the band of the 65th regiment, with every officer not on duty, and a great concourse of civilians, attending to pay the last token of respect to the memory of our messmate.

Poor Bent – what high spirits he was in on leaving the ship! He was our caterer; a thorough gentleman, a most excellent messmate, and more beloved on board than any other officer. As far as one can judge, he was the most prepared for death, although only thirty-four years of age; and he was on a charitable service when taken from this world.

The bar outside this harbour is very treacherous: when we passed over it it was as smooth as a mill-pond, but the rollers soon get up with any breeze. When inside, Porirua is a lovely harbour. Fifty of the 65th regiment had been quartered there, but earthquakes had so shaken their barracks that it was deemed prudent to leave. The farms about are very pretty and English-like, and they have lots of horses and cattle.

There is a safe landing-place directly opposite Mana when the bar is impassable, but it is a long way from the village. Porirua is to be the site of a new college for the natives, in connexion with that at Auckland, and a comprehensive plan for their education and amelioration is maturing.

Stopping at Wellington a month, without experiencing any fatiguing amount of hospitality from the families, but a great deal of conviviality among the bachelor part of that community, we left on the 13th December for Taranaki and Nelson, at the request of

TARANAKI.

Governor Grey, to try and induce, but without success, the nominee members, Cutfield and Cautley, to come and do their duty in the council at Wellington.

The holding ground at Taranaki being bad, and the anchorage exposed to the prevalent westerly winds, the 'Fantome' stood off and on while communicating. The surf was generally so high that we did not get out our boats, but made use of the large Government whale-boat. The best anchorage is close to three rocks, called the Sugar Loaves, from their conical shapes. While vessels are discharging and taking in cargoes here, a pilot has always charge, and they often have to slip in the middle of their work and return when the wind shifts.

Government boats, larger than, but something like a Ryde wherry, are used for the purpose, at a small charge per ton. The country is beautiful, with a fine agricultural slope from the mountain to the sea. Mount Egmont, eight thousand feet high, being close to, towering above, with its peaked top, evidently seen to be a crater.

Taranaki, the native name of New Plymouth, and still so called in the colony, is in 174° east long, and 39° north lat, at the entrance of Cook's Straits, and is one of the new provinces of the colony. It boasts a most delightful climate, better than most parts of New Zealand: the scenery is superb from the sea – Mount Egmont being one of the most majestic peaks in the world.

The population of the little settlement dignified as a province is about 2,200, exclusive of Maories, who number about as many as the whites in the various native pahs and settlements of the province –

NEW PLYMOUTH.

£.

Its revenues for

1849 were

417

1850 [were]

1,044

1851 [were]

1,501

1852 [were]

2,488

And to Sept. 1853

2,346

The soil is generally of that rich volcanic nature found at the foot of volcanoes, and produces immense crops; it is nearly all, however, covered with wood, bush, or fern. All the grains produce large crops; as much as sixty bushels of wheat have been produced from one acre. All the vegetables grown in England thrive luxuriously here, and altogether this settlement is a promising agricultural one, with one serious drawback – it has no harbour, and its roadstead is unsafe. As a truthful description of first impressions, I cannot do better than give a letter from the 'Australian and New Zealand Gazette': –

"NEW PLYMOUTH.
(Extract from a recent letter. )

"Henui, near New Plymouth, New Zealand,
"Oct. 14th, 1853.

"MY DEAR-,

"On the 17th September, at daybreak, land was first seen, after a quick and prosperous voyage of eighty-nine days from the Downs, and at ten P.M., we anchored at New Plymouth; all day we could see Mount Egmont, capped with snow, and indeed it was a most magnificent sight. The 'Joseph Fletcher' was not expected so soon, and some people thought it was the brig 'Velox' that had been obliged to slip her anchor and put out to sea, and some thought it was a man-of-war, it being so late before we anchored. Mr. Vickers, Messrs. Willis and Co.'s agent here, had

NEW PLYMOUTH.

gone home, and when the pilot came on board, he said Mr. Vickers would come on board by the first boat the next morning, which he did, and Captain Foster, with several of the passengers and ourselves, came on shore. The ship has gone on to Auckland, where she will probably stay about six weeks or two months.

"For the first week or two we stopped at the 'Ship.' hotel, as we could not find a house to live in; but at last we found our present abode at Henui, about two miles from the town of New Plymouth: it is a little thatched cottage. The houses are no better than labourers' cottages in England, are neither wind nor watertight, and swarm with a kind of cockroach, which, if you happen to touch, emits a most horrible smell, and for about twenty minutes the place is quite unbearable: they live under the shingles and in the thatch, and are the greatest pests of the place. We cannot get any land at present, for when a ship comes in everything jumps up in price, and land when cleared is very expensive. – – – advises us to wait for a short time; for when the Governor comes the natives are expected to sell some more land, and that will be in about three months, and then you can purchase some of the Government agent at from 5s. to 10s. per acre; but it requires an immense deal of labour to clear the bush land, it is so heavily timbered. The roads are execrable; bullock-carts are the only means of conveyance; the horses are of a very light breed; there are no heavy cart-horses in the place, and farm work is all done by bullocks.

* * * *

"The Maories are very fond of horses and bullocks; they will give 20l. for a colt three months old, but

NEW PLYMOUTH.

cows they do not like on account of the trouble. The natives are rapidly decreasing in numbers: great many die of consumption since the introduction of the blanket, which sometimes they wear, and when too hot throw off. When they go into their huts, they will shut up the door, light a fire, and remain inside until almost suffocated with smoke and bathed in perspiration, and then rush outside in the cold night air until cool enough, and then go in again: in consequence, nearly all have coughs. They seldom have more than two children, and are fully aware they are decreasing. The men are a fine race of people, and tattooing is going very much out of fashion; you do not see any of their children tattooed, but the women have an ugly practice of dyeing their lips blue.

"The bush grows very luxuriantly, but has a gloomy and dark appearance; all the trees are evergreens. The soil is very fertile, being a rich black mould, and clover seems to grow spontaneously. There is plenty of excellent water, and, I believe, abundance of fish; the Maories bring about some for sale, but it is generally very dear.

* * * * *

"The usual dress of Europeans here is a blue serge shirt, with a belt round the waist, and corduroy trousers: a few of the natives in the town dress like that too; and the women are dressed in gay-coloured dresses, generally pink or blue, with flounces up to the waist, and a shawl wrapped round their shoulders, bareheaded and barefooted; their dresses are twilled roundabouts. Men, women, and children, are excessively fond of smoking; but no person is allowed to sell them spirits under a penalty of 5l

"Provisions are very dear: bread is 11d. the 4-lb.

NEW PLYMOUTH.

loaf; candles, 1s. per lb.; sugar, 1s. ditto; soap, 7d. ditto; meat, 6d. ditto. Furniture is also very dear; French bedsteads being 2l. 5s. each, and iron bedsteads, wide enough for only one person, 2l. 2s.

"About seventy of the passengers per 'Joseph Fletcher' have stayed here, the rest have gone on to Auckland; and – – - says that one hundred persons have come here within the last two months. There are about two thousand white people in and about New Plymouth, and about three thousand natives. Pork is the prevailing food in the bush; fresh pork for one week, and salt pork for the next three, and then another pig is killed. The mutton is very good indeed; so is the beef; it is not quite so fat as in England, for the cattle are not put up to fat as in England, but are shot without any trouble of giving them oilcake, as at home. I have only seen two geese; they are not liked, as cattle will not feed where geese are kept. Turkeys are dear, being 9s. a-piece. Fowls and ducks thrive remarkably well; eggs, from 9d. to 1s. a-dozen. The butter is 1s. 2d. per lb. Washing is dear. The climate is delightful, and the air very soft and clear. The face of the country is very broken; I do not think I have seen an acre of perfectly level land; it is all hill and dale; some places are very steep indeed, where sheep only will feed. There are a great many swamps, and you would laugh to see Miss – – - and – – – -, up to their knees in swamp, picking the finest watercresses I ever saw, and yet they do not take cold. A pair of bullocks is worth from 50l. to 60l, and they work in teams of two, four, and sometimes six. Mount Egmont is a magnificent sight. The natives have a great dread of going up, but a man last summer went

NEW PLYMOUTH.

up to the top; he said the very top was not large enough to allow him to place both his feet on it, and his fingers were worn to the bone in climbing up; he saw several apteryxes on the mountain, and it took him a fortnight to do it. Labour is very dear: carpenters get 7s. a-day, and one of our steerage passengers has gone to a saw-mill at 30s. a-week; farm labourers get 12s. a-week, with board and lodging.

"The country is very beautiful, and I could sketch many exquisite bits of scenery. One day I went down to the little river Henui, and could not help sitting down to admire the beautiful little stream winding through the hills, and large branches of trees lying in it that have been brought down from the mountains in a fresh. There are about one hundred and forty-eight different species of fern, and the tree-fern has a very beautiful appearance; it grows in gullies and swamps, from thirty to fifty feet in height, and then a bunch of very graceful-looking leaves hang over at the top. The beach has rather a dreary appearance, as it is all iron-sand, and there are plenty of very small crabs to be found on it. There are also wild ducks to be had; one man the other day shot four; there are also seagulls; and a kind of cormorant. I like the settlement very much indeed, but at present – – - does not; but when we get settled on a farm, and get plenty of stock, she will like it better. There is no village between this and Auckland, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, and in parts there are no roads, only a narrow footpath; and the Maori who carries the mail-bag has in one part to drag himself by a rope up a rock many feet high.

NELSON TOWN.

The town is built on a slope from the beach, and has its scattered buildings – a granite-built church, meeting-houses, inns, &c,; but at present is too small to require notice, the only feature of the province being its apparent great superiority of soil, &c., for agricultural purposes. Prices are nearly the same as in the other New Zealand settlements: wheat, 8s.; oats, 7s. 6d. the bushel; beef and mutton, 6 1/2d. the lb.; butter, 1 . 1d.; eggs, 1s. 3d. the dozen; potatoes, 5l. the ton. The climate is so dry and healthy, that one settler writes that there is something in the air you cannot describe; you are fit for working, jumping, laughing, talking, playing, shooting, fishing, rowing, and, in fact, everything you can think of.

We were visiting the various settlements about Cook's Straits during December 1852; January and February 1853, Nelson, Wellington, Croixilles, Kapiti, and Queen Charlotte's Sound.

While at Nelson, two of us were by accident left behind from the ship, she having sailed for Croixilles. We were without linen, &c, but owing to the great kindness of that jolly specimen of a colonial innkeeper, Ross, we wanted nothing at his hotel, the Wakatu – it is the best hotel in New Zealand.

Nelson is built on a low delta, formed by the mountain streams, particularly one called by the Maori name of Wakatu. It is at the bottom of a deep bay called Blind Bay. The Boulder Bank, a long, narrow bar, stretches out from the main, and, running some miles parallel to it, forms the inner harbour, with a very narrow entrance, having a pinnacle rock, called The Arrow, thirty or forty feet above high water, in its centre; by this the tide runs like a sluice. On one occasion we anchored outside, and rolled tremendously.

NELSON.

Close to the town is a very pretty little suspension bridge over a small stream, with lovely walks on each side. We here had a most delightful ride over decidedly the best road in New Zealand; passed the race-course to the Waimea, a scattered village about twelve miles from Nelson, on the river of the same name, having ridden through the village of Richmond.

Nelson is more like home than any of the New Zealand settlements, the settlers' houses and cottages being so neat and comfortable in appearance, and the gardens filled with cherries, raspberries, and all kinds of fruits, and ornamented with fragrant roses, fuschias, bulbs, &c. The Waimea district is very fertile. There are some imported kangaroos on the hills, and one of the settlers has a pack of beagles for them.

The Wairoa, the scene of the massacre of Wakefield and party, about a hundred miles distant, is a fine sheep-running country, and is in constant communication with Nelson, and sheep are even driven as far as Canterbury settlement, through a wild, mountainous country. I saw a Mr. Dashwood there who had travelled this journey. Bullocks are used to draw the carts and drays, and have to cross several rivers – some very dangerous. There are very few natives in Nelson. We shot numbers of rabbits on an island off the Waimea.

On our second visit we anchored in a little cove right inside the Waimea river, touching the ground as we got under weigh on leaving. The bearings of our anchorage were – Arrow Bock, N. E. by N.; White Bluff, W. by N.

Nelson is the quietest and most homely place, and I prefer it to any part of New Zealand. - The people,

NELSON.

with Major Richmond (then the Resident), were very kind and hospitable. There are no soldiers there, and but few police. The most prominent building is the Protestant church, on a hill. There are likewise dissenting chapels, besides churches of Rome and Scotland.

Our vessel was moored in a little cove, with just room enough to swing the ship, the beach close to us, being about four miles from the town. We used to bring tethers round the necks of our horses, and, leaving saddle, &c. on the ground, to make the animals fast to bushes (called Scotchmen). When we landed, we would find everything safe, and, leaving the tether there, would saddle, mount, and ride in. We never left any one to look out for them, and did not suffer from our want of caution.

There is now plenty of land in the Nelson province for sale, Government having purchased all the land, except D'Urville Island, from the natives for 5000l, all the newly-acquired land will be open for selection at 10s. an acre.

The exports of this little unpretending province, in 1853 to 20th August, amounted to no less than 28,577l.; the imports, for the same period, to about 15,000l.

This province contains more good harbours than all the rest of New Zealand put together; the whole of its northern coast is a succession of deep bays and long river harbours. The roads of this province are more creditable than the others. Firewood is brought from a long distance, and is very dear, which is a great drawback; and is their own fault, for they do not much work the coals that exist in all directions in this province. The large prices given at Melbourne for agricultural produce have increased its value in the town,

CROIXILLES.

and potatoes are now at 8l. the ton, with meat almost as dear as at home, 6d. the lb.

On Sunday night, the 26 th December, a brother officer, G – – -, and myself left Nelson in an open boat, at half-past ten, for Croixilles. It blew very hard, and we were near being swamped, but got under Pepin Island at one A.M. From eleven till half-past one there was almost a total eclipse of the moon; and although it was blowing hard, it was a lovely night, and I never saw so many and so brilliant falling stars. One came down in a curve, and broke into numbers of sparks that did not go out instantly; it was like a falling rocket. We got to Croixilles at eight A.M., the boatman having been half frightened to death during the night by the weather.

At Croixilles we shot numbers of ducks, four Paradise ducks, pigeons, and the redbill, or oyster-catcher; the latter took heavy shot, and were always in pairs: they are capital eating. It is an excellent harbour, and is named from the islets at the entrance forming a cross. Magnificent trees grow round the bay, and we got a spar for a maintopsail-yard. We found here one of the specimens of the old white settlers, a man named M'Laren, who had evidently been a ship's carpenter, most probably of a whaler. He had his Maori wife, and claimed the land; but from his fear of the natives, he clearly depends and imposes on them by means of his wife.

There are several small settlements of natives at different islets of the harbour; and here for the first time I saw them eating taro, their pounded and baked fern-root – a horrible, indigestible, dirty-looking food. Ascending the hill at the head of the harbour, we opened out a splendid view of another harbour, or

CROIXILLES.

indentation of the sea from Cook's Straits, called Pelorus harbour and river, from H. M. ship of that name having gone up and chastised some pahs that had annoyed our merchantmen.

From the water in Croixilles harbour to the beach of the Pelorus is not more than one mile and a half; but it is up one steep hill and down the other side, and very fatiguing. From the other bank of the Pelorus to another immense harbour, Queen Charlotte's Sound, is merely a dividing range with slopes on each sides of about six miles. What magnificent harbours, what facilities for trade, how favoured by nature, these islands are! On the beach at Croixilles and in many places were numerous pieces of quartz; and from the appearance of the land and direction of the hills, gold will be found there; there is also iron and coal about Croixilles.

At Ship Cove, close to where Cook anchored in Queen Charlotte's Sound, is a snug little anchorage close to the bushes. A missionary was here with the natives. All these harbours are full of splendid fish, and wood and water is everywhere to be had; the whole country, except just about Nelson, being thickly wooded, with millions of pigeons.

There is a description of fungus that grows throughout all New Zealand. It is of enormous size, some pieces two feet and a half in diameter, and six inches thick, of a beautiful white colour. It is a capital substitute for punk, catching fire instantly, and burning surely and slowly: it can be got anywhere for nothing.

While on the banks of the Oyerri, or Pelorus, we were disappointed by the native canoe being stove and unfit to go up the river; so, after making a meal of

WELLINGTON.

the pigeons and oyster-catchers we had shot, with some ship's salt pork, &c. – and trying to sleep, through incessant rain all night, in a small place that the Maories kept the canoe's sail under, and which let the water through everywhere, being only about six feet square every way, and about three in height – we were compelled to give up our trip and return to Croixilles in the morning. During the night we felt a rather severe shock of an earthquake (1st Jan. 1853). The Pelorus, or Oyerri (native name), is navigable seventy miles from the heads in Cook's Straits forming its entrance.

At Kapiti, or Entry Island, in the Straits opposite Queen Charlotte's Sound, we got wood and water. The island was deserted, with one empty house in it. Numbers of goats and sheep were pasturing on the hills, all private property. It affords excellent anchorage when unable to get up the Straits, as well as Mana.

Wellington is, after Auckland, the next town of importance in the New Zealand colonies. It is in lat. 41° 30' S. on the shores of a large harbour called Port Nicholson, in the narrowest part of Cook's Straits. The harbour is an excellent one; but it requires good ground tackle, for it is nearly always blowing hard: it is completely land-locked, with high land in all directions round, with the exception of the Valley of the, Hutt. The appearance of the place impresses one much more favourably than Auckland. The town is built all along on hillocks and ravines, sloping down to the beach, with one or two levels, called Flats, and is very straggling.

Her Majesty's 65th regiment of foot are quartered here, and their band plays in the season on Thorndon

SOCIETY IN WELLINGTON.

Flats. The officers kindly made us members of their mess. The mountainous shores of the harbour are very much against its becoming a large city; but the harbour may be the medium of exchange of produce, &c, of a highly agricultural country about Porirua, the Hutt, and the coast to Wanganui, there being no harbours to speak of there. The natives here are not so numerous as to the northward. Sir George Grey, Governor-in-chief – Mr. Eyre, the late New Zealand Company's lieut.-governor of New Munster, called by the Maories the "hihapeni (sixpenny) governor," from having no power or duty – and Mr. Enderby, the ci-devant whale-fishery governor of the Auckland Islands – were all at Wellington, so that it boasted a large assortment of the representatives of royalty. I could get no assistance in New Zealand as to statistics and information about the colony. It was refused me, and, I believe, studiously withheld from others; for what reasons, I will not pretend to be certain. In the other colonies, every assistance was given courteously.

We cannot say much of Wellington society, our experience of it not being overwhelming. From what little we saw, I should say it was rather free and easy, decidedly not so good as in the other New Zealand settlements. There were many bachelors' parties, and they were very convivial, the usual consequence of a want of proper tone in the married society. I had some reason to expect civility from both Governors; but none of us had the slightest notice taken of our calls.

The river Eritonga, or Hutt, runs into the harbour about eight miles from Wellington, having flowed through an extremely rich delta. The road from the

CHURCHES AND CHAPELS.

town travels under precipices along the shore of the harbour, and is occasionally obstructed by land slips, very dangerous for horses at night. We dashed in an omnibus through several rivulets up to the horses' knees. In one place, turning a sharp angle while galloping through the middle of a stream knee deep, on reaching the level land, the strong stockaded Maori pah of Epuna is seen; the stockades are neglected now, but before their hard-earned knowledge of the effects of great guns, the natives considered it almost impregnable. On the river running through the centre of this alluvial level, are the seats of the Hon. Mr. Petre and some other gentlemen, with a church and a Romish and Dissenting chapels; the clergymen's, doctor's, and lawyer's houses; a shop of each kind, a post-office, a good inn, and a number of farms: no two houses connected, but all at distances from each other. The river has a hideously ugly black bridge across it, with transverse beams; and under it the swollen muddy river runs very rapidly: above is another and prettier bridge. The mountains, about seven miles higher up, enclose the river in a small space, forming themselves the almost perpendicular natural banks; but it gradually widens, while the mountains diverge as it approaches the sea, and the land on each side of the river to the mountains is of the richest description, and produces splendid crops. It is anything but pretty or interesting in appearance, except to the easily-pleased minds of the Wellington people, who appear to think the Hutt a Paradise – "Be sure you go to the Hutt!" – "Oh; you must see the Hutt!" – "So English-like!" This is truly ridiculous when alluding to a partly-drained swamp. The houses are, again, all wooden, and any-

ROAD TO PORIRUA.

thing but English-like; and these, with the stumps of trees in the swampy, wooden primitive bridges, and careless fences, give it a shabby North American tinge.

A [late naval] medical man practising here had called on us, and was liberal in his offers; but when we got to his place, he found it more pleasant to dine with us at the hotel; and with his friend, the law practitioner of the place, we passed the evening at our hotel.

There is a very good nursery garden at the Hutt, with plenty of plums, apples, raspberries, gooseberries, &c, and English flowers of every kind, roses, pinks, stocks, wallflowers, besides more rare and beautiful ones.

I have no doubt high up the Hutt the scenery is magnificent; but from the flat where the settlement is, we returned disappointed.

There are several Roman Catholic priests at this little place, and I believe some Roman Catholics of good English families resident. Mr. Petre has a chaplain living with him.

The road to Porirua is pretty good; carts and gigs go right up seventeen miles to the ferry. It is, however, very mountainous: the scenery is superb. The view of the harbour and sea from a mountain path above the suburb of Kaiwara, is worth anything – the soil is luxuriant with palms, ferns, and all the New Zealand trees, and they cover the ravines below the path in some places with most brilliant hues, while the hills are dotted with farmhouses, barns, hayricks, &c.; and at intervals, on the roads, well-cleared patches of corn-land and grass, among which fine cattle; sheep, and horses, are seen grazing, the tinkling of their

PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.

bells reminding one of home. On the sides of the roads, in all directions, were little rills of delicious water, and loads of watercresses: we met very few natives on this road. The expanse of water on the Porirua side of the hills is very pretty, and as still as a garden pond, and one would little suppose such a danger as the bar existed at its entrance.

On the 22nd of January, the anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers, a regatta and horseraces took place, and it was a holiday to every one. There were whale-boat, ballast-boat (a barge), and dingy races; one of the latter, under sail, being capsized, but the two persons in her saved.

An impromptu race of Maori-bred horses, ridden by Maories, added much to the amusements of the day. The natives entered with great glee into the fun, and behaved very well; one of them who rode was quite the jockey – dressed completely in costume, and evidently thought himself some one: they take great care of their horses. The horse-racing was followed by foot-races among the soldiers, our men and some Maories; and it was really, altogether, a cheering scene – the natives so completely amalgamating with their white brethren, and all looking healthy, cheerful, and free.

The province of Wellington contains nearly 11,000,000 acres, but of this only a small part is cultivated. Sowing takes place – wheat in May to end of July, barley and oats the next three months, potatoes, August to February. The retail markets for November 1853 gave – best flour, 30l. a ton; bread, the 2-lb. loaf, 7d.; beef, 8d. to 9d.; fowls, 3s. 6d. a pair; ducks, 5s.; geese, 5s. each; turkey, 10s.; butter, 1s. 2d. per lb.; salt fish, 1s. 2d.; potatoes,

ARRIVAL AT SYDNEY.

7l. per ton; eggs, 1s. 6d. the dozen; New Zealand cheese, 1s. 2d. the lb.; wheat, 11s. the bushel; barley, 7s.; oats, 10s.; hay, 10l. the ton; cows and bullocks, from 8l. to 10l.: labourers get from 4s. to 5s. a day, and natives, 3s.

Leaving Queen Charlotte's Sound, 3rd February 1853, we arrived in Farm Cove, Sydney, on the 14th, having been drifted by a southerly current sixty miles south of the heads, which took us forty-eight hours to get up against, the same thing happening to all the merchant ships about the same time. H. M. S. 'Herald' arrived soon after us. She is to survey the islands to the northward of Australia, and is ill adapted for such a service, being exceedingly low and cramped, and necessarily an unhealthy description of vessel for a hot climate; but her little draught of water is in her favour, as it allows her to approach the coral reefs of the Pacific. Her steam-tender, 'The Torch,' was left at St. Paul's Island, having been towed five thousand miles out by the 'Herald;' she did not arrive in Sydney till some months after, and is hardly fit for the service she is employed on. On this visit we found prices very high. House-rent enormous, all the hotels crowded. Firing hardly to be got; and labour not to be had. Meat, however, was still cheap, but the weather was so hot it would not keep a day; maggots appearing so immediately, that they must be deposited alive by the flies, one would suppose.

A Mr. Daly, from the Emerald island, was starring as an electro-biologist; he is an extremely handsome Irishman, with a splendid eye, from which, I suspect, his power over weaker minds originates.

Leaving Sydney, 7th March, we found ourselves at Auckland on the 26th. During the many visits to

ARRIVAL AT AUCKLAND.

this chief town of the New Zealand Islands, we met with great hospitality from the residents, and those best of fellows the officers of H. M. 58th regiment, who kindly made us honorary members of their mess, and for whom I shall ever retain feelings of the greatest respect and kindly remembrance; they all did their best to keep up brotherly feeling between the two services.

Auckland is situated in lat. 37° south, and 175° east long., on the south-west part of the Shouraka Gulf, in the middle of the eastern side of the northern island of New Zealand, called New Ulster; and is on a narrow peninsula, which almost makes its northern and southern divisions two separate islands, having on each side large harbours – one, Auckland, a magnificent one, the other not as yet fully developed, but promising to be the resort of steamers from the Australian colonies. It is a very dirty, ill-built, wooden town, and is the chief garrison of the colony, having a battery on Britomart Point, and loopholed walled barracks.

It is a cathedral city; the bishop of New Zealand generally living at Bishop's Auckland, seven miles from town, on the Tamaki; and his title will, in all probability, be Bishop of Auckland, when the diocese shall be divided. The metropolitan church, St. Paul's, is built of wood, and is like a large barn with a wooden steeple on it, the roof supported by cross rafters. The service was all delivered from the altar.

This church was loopholed during the disturbances, and riflemen stationed in the steeple, who, had the town been attacked, could have done some damage, as it commanded Shortland Crescent and Prince's Street, with the entrance to the Commissariat stores,

MOUNT VICTORIA.

round which, on Britomart Point, are thrown entrenchments.

There is a signal-station on Mount Victoria, opposite the town, on the north shore of the Waitemata, the harbour of Auckland; and from this you get good view of the Shouraka Gulf, with its islands of Rangitoto and Tiritirimatanga, the entrance to the river Waikato or Thames, the college near the rivulet Tamaki, and the harbour and town of Auckland, with the wooden spire of St. Paul's church. Two seamen of H. M. S. 'Buffalo,' wrecked in New Zealand, lived here, married to two sisters, one of them having charge of the signal-station. Such chubby, healthy children as theirs I never saw; the mother had just had twins – a very common occurrence in New Zealand, two ladies in the small community having presented their husbands with a pair each just before this visit. The old signalman used his nautical privilege to growl; and when we were telling him how happy he ought to be at having left the service, and being so comfortable, he complained of the slight trouble of having to get his provisions and wood from below the mountain; and on our suggesting that his boys would soon do that for him, he said, "Yes, when I am under there," pointing to the ground. "I should have begun to get them earlier;" at which his wife, a very pretty Irish woman, looked serious, thinking they had enough – two at the breasts, and surrounded with a red-faced tribe of all sizes.

CHAPTER XVI. Arrival at Auckland – Houraka Gulf...

CHAPTER XVI.

Arrival at Auckland – Houraka Gulf – Manukao – Town – Colleges – Billiards – Politics – Scenery – The Bishop – Pensioners – Statistics – Signal Station.

I LEFT Sydney in H. M. S. 'Serpent,' on the 26th July 1853, on our way home, to touch at Auckland, Valparaiso, and the Falkland Islands. We arrived at Auckland on the 7th August 1853.

Auckland, the old capital of New Ulster, now the chief town of the province so called, and the see of a bishop, is situated on the southernmost shore of the deep estuary of the Thames, called the Shouraka Gulf. The harbour is a splendid one, completely landlocked, having a broad entrance, off which the islands of Rangitoto and Brown's Island form a half breakwater, the whole of the gulf being studded with islands – Tiritirimatanga, Barrier Island, Waiheki, &c. It is perfectly safe, no pilot is required, and the port is free, and has but one objection, which is being removed – a want of a proper landing-place for goods. When we were there, carts had to take everything from our boats, and bring all our stores to us in the water, the boats grounding, and unable to get near the shore. We have had to send back a whole cartload of bread for the 'Fantome,' spoiled by a careless driver letting the cart come too far, and getting the loaves wet. The town is built on a narrow isthmus, on the western side of which,

ARRIVAL AT AUCKLAND.

at a distance of only five miles, and with a water-carriage for boats to within two miles of each, is the newly-formed, practicable harbour of the Manukao. This harbour, neglected till 1852, and then proved available by the entry into it of H. M. S. 'Pandora,' after Captain Drury's valuable survey, is the most important event in Auckland's history. It is in a direct line from Sydney, will save three degrees of latitude on either side of New Zealand, and no doubt a railroad will soon be made. The trade with the Australian colonies will be immensely facilitated. In fact, it is the only practicable harbour on the west coast of the whole of the New Zealand Islands. Captain Drury found a straight, direct, channel, with not less than three-and-a-half fathoms at low water of spring tides, and not less than five-and-a-half at high water. It has been generally supposed that the breakers extended right across the heads, because, when viewed from Poponga, the middle bank, which is always breaking, faces this view. This is an error. Once in it, the channel between the heads is open before you. Captain Drury says, the natural marks for leading into Manukao are very conspicuous, and gives these directions: –

"A rock called the Nine Pin, eighty feet high, near the low water of the north head, being brought in line with the right extreme of Paratutai, a third rounded point, Poponga (within the harbour), will then also have its right tangent just visible; by keeping this line N. 55 E., magnetic, the shoals to the north are avoided – and Poponga should not be shut in by Paratutai.

"The channel is about one mile broad, decreasing to half a mile between Paratutai and the middle or south banks, where it is narrowest.

"The same course leads between the Orwell and

AUCKLAND.

the middle bank; both, being nearly dry at low water, are always visible by the breakers.

"Pass a cable from the Nine Pin, to avoid a sandpit; but when it bears north, steer for, and keep as close to, Paratutai, as convenient.

"The channel here is the narrowest (half a mile). A spit extends from the south head towards Paratutai, two-thirds of a mile.

"After passing this, the channel is clear to Poponga, and gradually decreases from twenty fathoms. It is not advisable to anchor until rounding Poponga or Mako Point; but, if necessary, the Huia banks afford an anchorage in five or six fathoms.

"By keeping the Nine Pin open of Paratutai, the Huia banks are cleared. The channel between Poponga and the tail of the banks is two-thirds of a mile broad, and the anchorage is good and convenient after rounding the point. With a leading wind, the vessel could proceed as far as Shag Point, five miles above, if the banks are visible, the channel being about half a mile broad, and the course along the coast, taking care not to get within the line of points."

The people of Auckland will show great want of sense if, at any cost, a good ship canal is not at once made, which will be much better than a railroad. It is a great proof of Captain Cook's accurate judgment, that he recommended a settlement here, at the mouth of the Thames, in preference to the other parts of New Zealand.

From the harbour of Auckland, called by the natives Waitemata, or Sick Water, the land about looks exceedingly dreary, and the town anything but prepossessing. The town is built on several ridges running into the sea, and in the valleys between them, with

AUCKLAND.

several creeks between the jutting points of the high ridges, called Merlance's Bay, Official Bay, and Hobson's Bay, &c On one of the most prominent points, Point Britomart, are the Commissariat stores, substantial buildings of stone, and the metropolitan church of St. Paul. On a further high point is the Roman Catholic church. Between these two is the greater part of the town; but it extends to a long distance on the eastern side of Point Britomart to a highland on the other side, on which is a large Dissenting church, – these three places of worship being the most prominent buildings. The only streets worth mentioning are Shortland Crescent (improperly so called), running from the cathedral down a hill, for about a quarter of a mile, parallel to the sea-beach. At either end, and at right angles, are Queen Street at the bottom, and Prince's Street at the upper end, fronting the church; The latter consists of the Masonic Hotel, the Land Office, Colonial Office, and a few private houses. The two former of shops of all descriptions. In Shortland Crescent is the Exchange Hotel – this and the Masonic are the best, but both are excessively filthy and badly ordered, the public rooms worse than those of a low English potshop, and the bedrooms about the size of my cabin in the 'Fantome,' with conveniences in a yard, above your ankles in mud and filth. Down the main street, Queen Street, in dirty weather, a muddy river runs, through which high boots are required to protect the legs and feet. The police magistrate may here be seen in careless boots outside the trousers, and a very fierce moustache.

The promenade for ladies – the only place where you can walk dryfooted – is generally on a pier, erected in 1852, in Official Bay, a mere wooden,

AUCKLAND.

unpainted pier. The other streets are the very filthiest I ever witnessed in an English colonial town. Some of the houses crowded with Maories of both sexes, and the lands are literally and truly knee-deep in mud and worse. At the top of Prince's Street are the barracks, built by Maories, of stone, and loop-holed, with a large exercising space of ground. Around this, and close to the barracks, is the Domain, where did exist a Government house, burnt down, and now there is none. In the Domain the band of the 50th used to play of an evening. Near the town is a Wesleyan college, Auckland being the head-quarters of that mission to the whole of the islands of the seas adjacent. It is a fine brick building, and affords excellent education to a large number of children of all sects. On the opposite shore is a Roman Catholic college for the same purpose. About six miles east of Auckland, on the Tamaki, a small rivulet running into the harbour, is Bishop's Auckland, the college of the Church of England in New Zealand, and the residence of the Bishop of New Zealand, that most excellent man Dr. Selwyn. Here are educated candidates for holy orders for the colony, whether Maori or white, as well as a number of children whom the Bishop has nobly brought from the islands of the Pacific to teach them Christianity. May they go back, and be the means of civilizing and Christianizing the numerous pagan, savage islanders of the South Pacific! But though the town of Auckland is thus dirty, the pretty cottages and houses of the gentry, officials, and officers around the town are delightfully clean and English-like, and their gardens most charming. Society consists chiefly of the military and Government officers, and, as far as their means go, they are kind and hospitable. I think

AUCKLAND.

I never was at a place where billiards appeared, not a resource of amusement, but a business. All day long, whenever you entered the billiard-room, it was full of the chief people of the place, including the Government officers. Anchovy toasts, nobblers, and stone-fences would be called for every night incessantly – nobblers being a measure of any kind of drink, and the stone-fences, brandy and ginger-beer. The master was an M. D. of Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards a soldier of the 58th regiment, and an oddity. I have seen his very servant deliberately look away from. the players (when they were muffs), and call out any numbers that came into his head, and when he was tired, call game; but he was on his guard when the good players were there, and there were some of the best in the Australasian colonies. Politics ran to a great height, and the two papers, the "Southern Cross," and the "New Zealander," fight outrageously – the former being very severe on the Government, and the latter the Government paper. A gentleman well known in all New Zealand wrote the most personally bitter articles on Sir George Grey, under the signature of Metoikos. He had been a friend, and consequently became a most inveterate foe. He literally followed the Governor about, writing against him. He is said to be a very clever fellow. He is most certainly an original, as far as appearances go. We all liked him as far as we knew him. Party politics ran very high among the smaller tradesmen, who, from the very liberal form of government, are great persons. The mechanics were going to send some of their own body to represent Auckland in the Provincial Assembly, and the pensioners the same – a nice collection they will be if they succeed.

MANUKAO.

The roads about Auckland are a disgrace to the place. The only attempt at one is about four miles long, on the way to Manukao; the rest of it is, in wet weather, two feet thick in mud. The cultivation of the land on either side of this road is wonderful for the time it has been settled. It is like travelling through a highly-cultivated English district – beautiful trellised cottages, with roses, geraniums, and fuschias, besides all descriptions of fruits, peaches, apples, pears, strawberries, &c., in the gardens; and large fenced fields with splendid cattle and fine horses grazing, and here and there large pens of fine sheep, with farmyards and enormous hayricks. With the exception of Nelson, this is the most English-like looking country. The land is generally pretty level, with three or four volcanic cones thrown out here and there, the lava of which, for some distance round, are of pumice and scoria, and not at present available; but the broken stones and lava are used for fences and walls. The view from Mount Eden is very fine, and gives one the idea of being in a place eminently adapted for mercantile transactions of great magnitude. You stand on the apex of an extinct volcanic hill, in the middle of a large cultivated plain, divided close before you, on either side, by splendid harbours, the Manukao on the western, and the Waitemata on the eastern side of the northern island of New Zealand; the coasts on all sides, if you except this isthmus, spreading out beyond sight to sea, so that the city of Auckland must in time naturally extend across the isthmus, and become a large place, with, perhaps, a canal dividing the city throughout, with busy wharves on either side. This is more than fancy, and must be the case ere many years. The isthmus is very small, and, in fact, there is water-

BISHOP'S COLLEGE.

carriage by rivers, for boats, to within less than a mile of each side. North and south of the isthmus, the range of mountains run through the islands. There is no wood on the isthmus or land close to Auckland, so that it has an unusually bare appearance for New Zealand scenery; but plenty is procured from the islands in the gulf. The Bishop's College, six miles off, is a collection of Elizabethan-looking, small buildings, with farm establishments, in the same style, attached. The bishop is, indeed, a wonderful man. The true Christian, the champion pedestrian, the perfect scholar, the polished gentleman, the eloquent preacher and linguist, are united in him. His energies are untiring. I have seen him come out of the church, after a whole service and communion, without any assistance (the clergyman having just died), and with an afternoon service before him in his own house, hailed by a host of Maories, men and women, all holding out their hands, and shaking his with true fervour, and talking and looking at the Bishop; and his lordship having a word, in their own pretty language, for all. I recollect telling one native, on the north shore, that the bishop was back. He was quite deaf, and seemed delighted, and said, "He go to bishop," pointing to his ear; "bishop make well I" – rather a startling proof of their opinion of his powers. He has indeed proved their friend.

At distances, varying from seven to fourteen miles, round Auckland are collected, in little regular military-looking villages, British pensioners, each with its staff of officers, military and medical, all enrolled, and occasionally called out. They are called Onehunga, Honich, Panmere, Otahuhu. The pensioners have each a nice house, and an acre of land, and their great

POPULATION OF AUCKLAND.

pride appears to be the plot of English garden daisies, stocks, and wallflowers before the house. Their daughters generally marry the soldiers of the regiment in garrison.

The population of Auckland is about 5,000, and with the pensioners and settlers in the villages of the district about 8,000. The whole province contains about 70,000 souls, including natives. The markets are cheaper than those of the continental cities, but English goods imported are dearer. House-rent is exorbitant, and why I cannot tell. I recollect the single officers of the 58th, for whom no barrack accommodation is granted, had to pay large sums for their little wooden cabins. Vegetables, although growing luxuriously, are difficult to be bought, although many of the gentry used to send us plenty as well as fruit. The vegetables and fruit are beautiful; the meat excellent and cheap; and poultry good, but not cheap. The fish are magnificent and plentiful, but there are no fresh-water fish, except eels, in New Zealand, strictly speaking. The rivers have no trout or salmon, merely a kind of a salt-water mullet.

Gold has been found and worked on the south-west or Coromandel shore of the Houraka or Shouraka Gulf, but as yet it has not been of any vital importance.

Copper exists in large quantities at the Kawau, a few miles north of Auckland, in the gulf, and a company work the mines.

There are 20,000 acres of land fenced in and cultivated within fifteen miles of Auckland.

Auckland possesses 100 registered vessels, and upwards of 120 small craft under 15 tons; 741 vessels, and 1,792 canoes, with native produce valued at 3,564l., entered the port in 1852. The exports for

VALUE OF LAND.

that year were valued at 128,000l., the greater part produce of the province.

The chief articles of export are potatoes, vegetables, pigs, hay, cheese, onions; and the imports, sheep, spirits, tea, &c, and English manufactures.

The revenues of Auckland exceed those of all the other divisions of the colony of New Zealand. The province is 300 miles long, with an extreme breadth of 150 miles. The price of land may be judged of by the following extracts in November 1853, from "The Southern Cross": –

"A lot of ten acres on the Epsom road, about a mile and a-half from town, was let for 12l. 10s. per annum.... An adjoining lot of nine and a-half acres fetched a rental of 18l. 8s.... A farm of fifty-three acres, with a frontage to the Tamaki River, fetched 31l. per annum.... Two town allotments, situated near the Presbyterian church, comprising 100 by 122 links, were let at the upset sum of 4l. 6s. each. A third brought 6l. 5s. A fourth, not larger, but possessing the advantage of frontage in two streets, realized 17l. A fifth lot fetched a rental of 7l. 10s., and a sixth, 11l.

"The next sales were of real property. A farm at the Wahu portage, containing 77 acres, was sold at 30s. per acre. One of 115 acres, a few miles up the Waitemata, was sold at 8s. an acre; and another of 71 1/2 acres, in the same locality, but having a water frontage, at 12s. per acre. A lot in Shoal Bay, containing 41 acres, realized 50s. per acre; another adjoining it, of about 26 acres, 55s.; a third, of 40 acres, realized 65s. per acre; and a fourth, of 27 acres, 45s. per acre. Wakefield Street allotments particularly excited spirited competition, and realized from 40l. to

MARKET-PRICES AT AUCKLAND.

64l. for allotments of from seven to ten perches each, of which the upset price was from 9l. to 11l. On an average it produced about 900l. per acre. Land in Symond's Street sold at the rate of about 200l. per acre. The total proceeds of the sale amounted to about 2,500l. per acre."

Below are the market prices of Auckland, November 1853.

"Retail Prices, Nov. 18. – Flour (Auckland), 25s. per 100 lbs.; bread, 2 lbs. loaf, 7d.; biscuit, fine, 34s. per 100 lbs., seconds, 32s.; oatmeal, 4d. per lb.; wheat, per bushel, 7s. 6d. to 8s.; barley, 8s.; Oats, per bushel, 10s.; maize, ditto, 8s.; bran, ditto, 1s. 6d.; tea (6l. 10s. per chest), 2s. per lb.; sugar (moist), from 28s. to 42s. per cwt., 3d. to 5d. per lb.; refined sugar, per loaf, per lb., 9d.; coffee, per lb., 1s. 9d.; pickles, pints, 15s. dozen, per bottle, 1s. 6d.; arrowroot, per lb., 1s. 3d.; beef, per lb., 8d.; mutton, 8d.; pork, 6d.; butter (fresh), per lb., 1s. 6d.; ditto (salt), 1s. 4d.; potatoes, per cwt., 9s.; eggs, per dozen, 1s. 9d.; cheese (Auckland), 1s. 3d. per lb.; hams and bacon (New Zealand), per lb., 9d.; mould candles, -ditto, 9d.; rice, ditto, 3d.; soap (Auckland), 38s. (New South Wales), 42s. per cwt., 5d. per lb.; salt, (Liverpool), 10l. per ton, 1d. per lb.; rum, 12s. per gallon; brandy, 25s. ditto; Allsop's ale, none; Truman's porter, 9l. 10s.; bottled porter and ale, 15s. to 17s. per dozen; tobacco, 2s. 6d. to 4s. per lb.; cigars, 5l. 13s. per 1000; timber, sawn, 20s. per 100 feet; firewood, per ton measurement, 12s. on the beach; coal, per ton, 5l., scarce, and not good for smiths' purposes; a good article for such use would always insure a steady and profitable market."

CHAPTER XVII. New Zealand...

CHAPTER XVII.

NEW ZEALAND – Natives – Company – Division into Provinces – Provincial Councils – Climate – Canterbury – Bishop-Designate – Statistics – Cannibalism – Otago – Overland Communication – Climate – Country – Stewart's Island – General Statistics.

THE three islands of New Zealand extend from 34° to 48° south latitude, and lie in the shape of a crescent, the horns being north-east and south-west; the longitude of the extremes are 166° and 179° E.; their shape is so very narrow, irregular, and uneven, that it would be incorrect to give any mere estimate of their area as anything but for what it is worth; it may be about eighty thousand square miles or fifty-one million acres. Besides the three great connected islands, there are the dependencies of the Auckland and Chatham islands; the one to the southward is 51° south latitude, and the others to the south-eastward. They were discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642, and by him the part seen was called Staten Island, and afterwards New Zealand, from its resemblance to his own country: this resemblance we now see existed only in Tasman's brain. It is very odd that this voyage of Tasman, which should have nearly discovered New Holland and New Zealand, should have been for so long unfollowed up; and it was not till 1776 that Cook, by his accurate survey, brought both discoveries into use. From two words much used by the native,

DISCOVERY OF NEW ZEALAND.

"Tavai poenamoe" and "Eia heina Maori," Cook named the two upper islands; they were afterwards called New Ulster, New Munster, and New Leinster (the southern one), or Stewart's Island. These names are dropped now, and the different divisions of the colony of New Zealand, called by the official names of the chief towns of the provinces. When discovered, they were thickly populated with a magnificent race of men, who proved hospitable till irritated, when they became revengeful, and proved, in innumerable instances, that cannibalism is a fact. There were no animals of any kind, if we except the native rat, called Kiore, a small marsupial animal; and dogs, supposed to have been introduced at some time by a Spanish ship from its name. The natives lived entirely on fern-root and fish, with the exception of their occasional treat of a little man-meat. Whalers found their seas favourable for their occupation, and introduced gradually European goods, with European vices and none of its civilization: the changes produced may be supposed from the chief articles sold to the natives, rum, muskets, powder, shot, tobacco, and blankets, which latter, where they could get it, they invariably preferred to their raw flax dresses. The whalers got in return, potatoes and a few vegetables, and pigs from those left by Captain Cook, which increased wonderfully, and are now wild in every part of the three islands and adjacent dependencies. The Church Missionary Society in Sydney, hearing so much of the people, determined, in 1814, to try and introduce Christianity; and the Rev. Dr. Marsden proceeded there, and it became the greatest scene of their labours, and has brought forth much fruit. To Dr. Marsden and his coadjutors and successors may, without doubt, be

ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND.

attributed, under God, all the wonders produced by Christianity in these islands. The history of the world does not give us a parallel instance of any scheme of civilization (not even excepting Christianity itself) producing in so short a time such effects as in this colony. From cannibalism and disgusting obscenity, and an almost total absence of any religious idea, except the making sacred the harvest, the fish, and the dead, the Maories, or natives of New Zealand, are, in forty years, a Christian people, reading the word of God in their own language, and, to a man, (even the aged ones) becoming imbued with highly good general ideas of life. In their manners they are dignified without forwardness, ingenuous, hospitable, and straightforward; the old habit of tattooing is almost universally given up by the young, and European costume adopted; and occasionally they may be seen, even at the Governor's parties, I believe, dressed well and looking like gentlemen. The men are very strong and handsome, and the women, though stout, very pleasing and good-looking; and the half-caste, the offspring generally of whaler's men with the Maori girls, really beautiful. There are many instances lately of very respectable and even well-connected whites marrying the girls, and a few Maori men marrying English girls. The men are industrious, and make excellent sailors. They cultivate the land in the European manner, and possess ploughs, oxen, horses, &c. At one place alone they have ten thousand acres under wheat, according to Sir George Grey's statement. They ride well, and take great care of their horses; their houses are becoming cleaner, but there is certainly great room for improvement here. They learn the value of money perfectly, and

MISSIONARY SETTLERS

do not sell their labour at too cheap a rate; in fact, avarice may be called their peculiar vice, but with it is mixed a great deal of generosity. I have seen an old chief at Auckland who recollected Captain Cook. While in the hotel one day with some officers of the 58th, an old white-headed, bent-double Maori came to the window, dressed in some cast-off European clothes, with an old beaver hat on, and bowed to his friends the officers, who told me he was about the oldest Maori alive. We asked him in, and he came and sat down, and called for ginger beer, which he drank off with great apparent delight; he would not take spirits, wine, or beer. When asked about Cook, he smiled with pleasure, and putting his hand to the top of his stick, pointed out to us that he was "that high" when he saw Captain Cook, or about ten years old, which (this was in 1851) would give his age at ninety; he could walk well with the help of his stick, could speak, see; and hear well; a Maori boy always attended him, and walked respectfully behind him. He hinted, but not at all in a servile way, that he would be glad of any old clothes, and was promised some by W – – – . This old chief, Tamewha, is now dead, (1854.) The present native population may be about 110,000 in the whole islands.

After the Missionary settlers, the island gradually became Anglicized; and land was bought of the natives and possessed by Englishmen, who, after many quarrels relative to their possessions, which were claimed by various individuals, or having been improperly sold by natives who had merely a part of a joint right, called upon Government to enforce the claims, and gradually Government became, from umpires, possessors – after a long series of rows with the

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

natives, sometimes of a most sanguinary nature – of the whole country, by perfect permission of the natives, with the proviso that no land of any description is taken possession of without a voluntary sale of it first by the native owners. A company, called by charter the New Zealand Company, obtained peculiar privileges and monopolies from Government, but managed so badly by buying land from not de facto owners, that purchasers from the company became, in many instances, ruined, and eventually the undertaking failed; and now the whole of the islands are united into the one colony of New Zealand, governed by a governor-in-chief with a general assembly, divided into the provinces of Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, and Nelson, each governed by a superintendent and a legislative council; both the general and legislative councils being elective, and the qualifications for both members and electors exceedingly low and open to all men, even to a large portion of the natives.

The provincial council has immense power, especially of money matters; all the proceeds of customs and all the revenue being provisional, except a third of that derived from the post-office and customs, and the land revenue, which are for the general revenue of the colony. The superintendent will be a Lieutenant-governor under another name, being elected by the people in place of being appointed by Her Majesty; and in most cases he will appoint, it is supposed, an executive council of heads of departments to assist him. Indeed, the government of the colony of New Zealand may, in truth, be said to be now the most liberal in the world.

From north to south and east to west, throughout

MINERAL BATHS.

the islands, the country is one of mountain and of flood, of healthy breezes and cooling springs. It possesses mines of gold, copper, and manganese, with slate and coal. Generally speaking, it is densely wooded, the underbush being extremely thick and difficult to penetrate, and very different in this respect from the continental colonies near; but there are at Canterbury and a few other places large blocks of grass land, specially adapted for cattle and sheep. A range of high mountains runs like a backbone through the centre of these islands, from north to south, with ribs to the coast at right angles – some of the peaks being active and almost all the others extinct volcanoes. Rivers in every direction flow from the great range between the ribs to the coast and water every spot, and lakes exist in every direction, some of them hot and volcanic. Mineral baths exist near almost every chief town of New Zealand; and the climate is of all in the word the most healthy, and most like England. I must add that it is oftener than in England unpleasant, though healthy, from the extremely-high and constantly-occurring gales of wind that blow; and the incessant rain, which, whatever rain journals may show, is much greater than in the west of England. The climate of the southern provinces, about Otago, &c, and Stewart's Island, is of course much colder; but still, from the water surrounding and encroaching everywhere, inland and on the coasts, it is equable, and in fine weather I never felt more delicious, invigorating feelings than those produced by the clear atmosphere, the lovely scenery, the blue sky, and the bracing winds of a New Zealand day. But altogether I prefer Van Diemen's Land, which is in the same latitude, but has not so much wind or rain.

VALUE OF LAND.

The gales off East Cape and in Cook's Straits are incessant and furious, and westerly winds prevail. Were I to choose my residence in New Zealand, I would pitch my tent in the delightful little settlement of Nelson, about ten miles from town, and I think that would be perfection. Wellington is too mountainous, Auckland too dreary-looking, but Nelson is a lovely little place; Taranaki has no port; Otago is too Scotch; Canterbury a riddle. No! Nelson with its quiet, unostentatious way is a delightful place, and right in the high road of traffic, with coal and minerals near, besides a large tract of fine sheep-land at the Wairau and all round to the Pelorus, which tract has been recently bought from the natives, and is available for purchase or lease. There is land communication between all the settlements of each island, but at present it is merely by walking in many parts. In all the continental colonies land is supposed to be the property of the Crown, and sold to purchasers as such; in New Zealand it is first purchased from the natives by the Crown and then sold.

By proclamation of Governor Sir George Grey, land in New Zealand is at 10s. per acre, fixed, when there is no competition, or at an upset price of 5s. per acre at public auction, when the land commissioner shall declare the land of inferior quality. This proclamation is held by some of the chief lawyers to be illegal; and the judge of the supreme court has warned intending purchasers that grants from the Crown, under this proclamation, can legally be put aside. Whether this state of doubt is to continue, I don't know; but it appears very ridiculous and hard.

The General Assembly of New Zealand, and not the Home Government (the Governor in the provincial

CHURCH COLONIZATION.

assemblies), has the management of the land of the colony.

In 1850 a large number of influential and rich members of the Church of England, feeling the gradually collecting divisions in their church at home, particularly the great Papist tendency of a very talented, but vain and ill-directed class, as well as the leaning towards dissent of a portion of the evangelical members – and wishing that, in the Antipodes, its forms and worship should be established in their purity – planned an entire system of church colonization, and New Zealand was selected. They decided on a tract of land in the centre of the middle island, and sent there several shiploads of emigrants of this type, – capitalists, professional men, tradesmen, and labourers, with their families, and clergymen, with the promise of their chief town being made a bishop's see. They fixed a high price for their land, 3l. an acre; but this was to include payments for ecclesiastical and educational purposes, the surveys of the land, building of bridges and roads, and forwarding of labourers, all of whom, from the highest to the lowest, were to be of the Church of England. At the latter end of the year, Dr. Jackson was sent out as bishop-designate; but his commencement was unpropitious. I was at a meeting in Southvale, when he addressed a large audience three or four days before leaving, and prayed that the last building he might see on leaving England, should be the spire of Maher Chapel, Plymouth, and the first building after, should be the spire of the church of his new colony, to be called Christchurch. He left Plymouth, and meeting with foul winds in the Chops of the Channel, was blown back, and then saw the church on Maher heights again. On his arrival, differences with the

BISHOP DESIGNATE.

Bishop of New Zealand, whose permission for the division of his diocese was necessary, and some affairs connected with the monetary arrangements of his former appointment at Islington, caused his return to England, and it another bishop, Dr. Jebb, is the present bishop-designate; and the colonists are anxious to get him, but, as yet, he is not consecrated. The Church system has gradually fallen into disuse, and now the emigrants may belong to any religious sect, paying, however, the same price for their land, a part of which sum goes, of course, to the credit of the Church of England expenses. The settlement or province now is on the east coast, in latitude 44° S., having a large peninsula called Banks' Peninsula, jutting out in its centre from the otherwise unbroken line of coast. It contains 2,500,000 acres, perfectly level, with a range of hills running parallel to the coast, and about fifty miles distant, as its present inland boundary. The ports are at Banks' Peninsula, and are by no means good. The land is generally a fine, grassy, pastoral country, differing from other parts of New Zealand in the general absence of wood; and it is a remarkable thing that hardly any natives existed there; those who were found there were attracted by a small French colony planted at Akaroa. The prairie nature of the land is eminently adapted for large sheep proprietors; and grain, fruit, and vegetables come to great perfection: twenty-two tons of potatoes have been produced, per acre, at Pigeon Bay. The climate is delightful; and when devoid of its sectarian character, the province must succeed. The speech of the superintendent of the province, at the opening of the first legislative council, on Sept. 27th, 1853, gives a most ridiculous specimen of a verbose, solemn statement; it fills several pages, but it gives

SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

some useful information on the present state of the province.

Of 24,485 acres sold, 21,008 are owned by, or let on lease to, residents, and from 4,009 acres appropriated for Church and educational purposes, 1,270 are leased and occupied; there are 3,400 acres under crop, and 7,500 fenced in. The stock consists of 100,000 sheep, 4,000 cattle, 400 horses; in the Canterbury block alone a million acres are taken up for pasturage.

The chief exports for the year ending June 30th, 1853, are 16 tons of cheese, valued at 1, 600l., celebrated in all the Australasian colonies as Port Coope cheese; wool, 8,290l.; the total exports being valued at 13,000l.

The exports were: –

£.

From Great Britain.... 20,521
[From] New South Wales.. 28,402
[From] Victoria.....2,085
[From] Van Diemen's Land.. 3,707
Total. - 54,715

£.

The revenue was.. 5,251
Expenditure... 5,212

And 68, vessels of 11,864 tons entered the port, 10 being registered of the port.

A large portion of the sums paid on purchase of land is kept in an educational fund; and as it is generally supposed that, from the nature of the colony, this goes to only the Church-of-England system of education, the superintendent says: "The State is not bound to educate its subjects in matters of religion, that is the proper business of the religious body to which the children belong; the business of the State is to educate in matters secular, and in those alone. But this doctrine is quite consistent with the admitted necessity of

CANNIBALISM OF THE MAORIES.

uniting religious and secular instruction in the education of youth. The education fund of the province should therefore be used, in all instances, to supply the secular instruction to schools set on foot by some religious body, guaranteeing that religious instruction shall be given to children attending it: for example, if the Church of England offers to provide religious teaching for a school, and guarantees an annual sum of money for that purpose, a grant would issue from the education fund of the province, to provide secular instruction for that school. Upon this principle, of the most perfect fairness to all religious sects, the State education fund should be expended."

Canterbury is to have a college, by their own account, to imitate the universities of Oxford, and Cambridge.

An awful proof of the cannibalism of the Maories took place at Banks' Peninsula, before the settlement was made. In 1830, two chiefs agreed with the captain of a British brig of 300 tons, that she should convey Heko, son of Te Pahi, and Te Raperaha and their people from the northern island to the country of Te Marinewie, Banks' Peninsula, where the war was to be carried on to extermination. There was a fine fleet of war canoes, with about one hundred picked warriors on board the English brig. The English captain describes, that Te Pahi and Te Raperaha caused their people to be concealed on their arrival. Te Marinewie went immediately on board the brig to negotiate for the trading, and he demanded two double-barrelled guns by way of tribute to himself. The trade commenced, Marinewie confiding fully on the Englishman's honour. After he had been seated in the cabin a short time, Te Heko and Te Raperaha jumped on him, as did all their people on all those who

CANNIBALISM.

attended him on board. The scene which followed is too dreadful to describe. Under cover of night, Te Raperaha and Te Pahi and their men landed, and succeeded in capturing the wife and daughter of Te Marinewie; they sent them on board, and a work of death ensued, utterly indescribable for the horrible cruelties which were perpetrated. The whole population of the place who did not escape were killed, except about fifty, reserved to be taken back. At daylight the victors were seen, actively employed in cutting up and preparing for the steam-kettle the dead bodies of the slaughtered victims of the night. The crew of the vessel described the horrors they witnessed as beyond everything dreadful; the whole of the day was occupied in salting, and packing in baskets, heads and bodies to be conveyed back. Among the victims was a fine young woman near her accouchement, who was cut open, her unborn infant extracted, her head and part of her body salted, and the remainder, in presence of the captain, officers, and crew of a British ship, given to the pigs. Each basket contained a human being, and there were about a hundred baskets. During the passage back, the chieftain Te Marinewie and his wife, knowing the dreadful tortures that awaited them, strangled their own daughter; the captain then placed Te Marinewie and his wife in irons, to prevent them destroying themselves. It was understood that after undergoing torture, the heart of Te Marinewie should be sent to be eaten by Te Heko's mother, the widow of Te Pahi, who had been eaten by Te Marinewie; that Te Raperaha should eat his brains, Te Heko his eyes, Te Heko's sister his tongue, and the rest of his body be sent as presents to the chiefs of the interior.

OTAGO.

This stands, of course, alone; and the New Zealanders are now as peaceful as the peasantry of the United Kingdom. Several papers are published at Christchurch.

Potatoes are 6l. the ton; butter, 1l. 10s.; cheese, the best in the Australian colonies, 1s. the pound; wheat at 12s. the bushel; barley, 8s. to 10s.; oats 9s. to 12s.; turkeys, about 8s. 6d. each; eggs, 1s. 6d. to 2s. the dozen; mutton and beef, 7d. to 8d. the pound; tea, 2s. 6d. the pound.

Otago, the southernmost province of the New Zealand colony, comprises the southern part of the middle island. It was colonized first in 1847 by the Free Church party of the Church of Scotland, and with the design of forming a new Presbyterian colony. They were very strict going out in the ships, and some were horrified by others landing with their guns on a Sunday, so that their puritanical notions were invaded at once. The exclusive nature of the colony soon evaporated, but left a little condensed matter at the bottom, as their new council have just proved, they having restricted their grants of public money to schools adopting the "Shorter Catechism" of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The whole of the province may now be said to be eligible for purchase and occupation, the natives having sold all to the southward of a line drawn from Milford Haven on the west Coast, to Molineux Harbour on the eastern coast, a territory of four and a half million acres, for 2,600l. The whole of the middle island is now purchased from the natives by Government, and eligible for sale, with the exception of the Crown reserves for the natives. A Mr. Valpy has proved the practicability of present communication between

DUNEDIN

this province and Canterbury, having been twelve days taking horses from Otago to Christchurch; but it is difficult travelling as yet. The horses swam the several rivers, and they got their goods across on rafts of driftwood. Before many years there will be perfect communication from Nelson, on the north, to Otago, the southern chief town of the middle island. The climate of Otago is the most severe of all the New Zealand provinces, but still for its latitude, 46° S., it is very moderate. It is like that of England, boisterous, cold, and wet; but splendid crops are got from the ground, and good health is enjoyed by the colonists: the soil is said to be very good and adapted for agricultural purposes. Dunedin, the Celtic name of Edinburgh, is the capital of the province on the eastern coast, having a large harbour, fourteen miles long. The land is well watered by numerous rivulets and a few rivers navigable for ships of three hundred to four hundred tons, descending from the high ranges of mountains in the interior, some being nearly seven thousand feet high. The southern coast is of a prairie nature. Eastward of the Molineux or Clutta river to the Jacob's river offers peculiar advantages for the formation of an extensive settlement. a plain, stretching forty miles east of the latter river, comprises six hundred thousand acres of rich soil, clothed with fine grass; timber is everywhere equally distributed. Eastward of this plain a chain of densely-wooded hills extend to the Molineux district, having, towards the sea, an elevation of two thousand feet. Inland they decrease in height, and the forest gives place to the finest pasturage, having an area of from seven hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand acres of fertile land: there is a complete scarcity of timber, but

STEWART'S ISLAND.

an abundance of peat is a substitute in the neighbourhood; and the natives grow their finest potatoes here.

Stewart's Island has only one hundred and seven Europeans on it; most of them are living with Maori women, many of them married. The Maories amount to two hundred and eighty. The white people mix a fishing with a farming life, and are generally men left from whalers. This island has a number of excellent harbours and well-sheltered coves, with every facility for vessels to refit, and get wood and water as well as cattle, when there is a settlement.

Coal and limestone have been discovered in the Otago province.

The markets at Dunedin (Otago) in September, 1853, were as follows: – Flour, per 100lbs. best, 1l. 10s., seconds, 1l.; bread, 1s. 2d. per 4-lb. loaf; wheat, 10s.; oats, 5s. per bushel; beef and pork, 4d. to 5d.; mutton, 5d. to 6d.; butter, 1s. 4d. the lb.; tea, 2s. 9d.; sugar, 4 1/2d. to 9d.; mould candles, 9d.; cheese, 6d. to 1s,; potatoes; per ton, 6l.; eggs, 1s. 4d. per dozen; hay, 5l. 10s. per ton; firewood, 15s. per cord.

New Zealand, till last year, 1853, having been divided into but two provinces, New Ulster and New Munster – instead of the six new divisions – the returns for former years are for those two provinces.

The imports and exports for 1851, to New Ulster, were, from –

Imports.

Exports.

£.

£.

Great Britain

49,359

6,846

British Colonies.

67,983

32,602

United States

3,605

6,722

Foreign States

1,786

1,536

– 122,733

-47,706

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

Imports.

Exports.

£.

£.

Brought forward.

– -122,733

– -47,706

To New Minister, from

Great Britain

97,462

23,289

British Colonies

128,375

12,852

United States

951

..

Foreign States.

19

312

– -226,807

– -36,453

Total

– -349,540

– -84,159

The shipping entered to and from New Ulster were,

from –

Inwards.

Outwards.

Tons.

Tons.

Great Britain

4,048

2,302

British Colonies

12,880

11,589

United States

17,549

15,740

Foreign States

3,098

4,735

Total

37,575

34,366

141 vessels, 2,480 men. – 132 vessels, 2,265 men.

To and from New Munster, from –

Great Britain.

11,769

1,900

British Colonies.

16,535

18,747

United States

1,506

315

Foreign States

171

9,406

Total.

30,281

30,368

112 vessels, 1,668 men, – 104 vessels, 945 men.

WHITE POPULATION IN 1851.

–

Males.

Females.

NEW ULSTER.

Auckland District.

4,921

3,919

Russell "

241

161

Wanganui "

120

68

New Plymouth "

845

687

Total

6,127

4,835

10, 962

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

265

–

Males.

Females.

NEW MUNSTER.

Wellington District

3,135

2,587

Wanganui "

350

196

Nelson "

2,317

1,970

Akaroa "

285

156

Port Victoria "

1,680

1,152

Otago "

994

746

Ahuriri "

108

18

Total

8,869

6,825

15,694

SUMMARY.

New Ulster... 10,962

New Munster... 15,694

Grand total.. 26,656

CHAPTER XVIII. Passage Home...

CHAPTER XVIII.

Passage Home – Valparaiso – Cape Horn – Falkland Islands – Spithead.

WE left Auckland in H. M. S. 'Serpent,' on the 7th August, and bade adieu to the antipodean colonies. On Thursday, the 18th, passed the 180th degree longitude, and consequently altered the next day, which, in the ordinary course of things, would be Friday, and which was Friday in the eastern hemisphere, to Thursday the 18th, in the western; thus having, of course, two following Thursdays, 18th, in order to make our time agree. A ship going round the world to the westward would have had to skip a day on crossing the meridian, or from Wednesday 17th in the one hemisphere, to Friday the 19th, as on either way you gained or lost on the world's movement round the sun. We had unfavourable winds, which took us down to 51° south lat., and we did not get up again to Valparaiso, in 32°, same latitude as Auckland, till the 26th September.

Valparaiso, the chief port of Chili, and, after San Francisco and Lima, the largest and most commercial city of Western America, is in lat. 33° S., and long. 72° W. It is built on a number of slopes and ravines of the sea-line of mountains, arid in some parts the houses are built on, the very edges of perfect precipices, with breakneck paths winding round the

VALPARAISO.

inner sides, and there are but two or three level streets along the beach. There is more appearance of activity and business in this city than in any port of the Spanish colonies or countries. An electric telegraph is at work, ninety miles from the city, to Santiago the capital and seat of government, under the Andes; and a railroad is in course of being laid to the same place also. The boatmen and carmen, the porters and people of all kinds, appear energetic and very unlike their brethren in the peninsula. The cars (called birloches') are nasty affairs, holding two, very high from the ground, with two horses, on one of which the driver rides en postilion; these birloches are innumerable, and omnibuses are plentiful. The police, called vigilantes, are always on the alert: they use a whistle to call each other, and make a fearful noise with it all night, to try to make people believe all's well. Valparaiso is not lighted by gas. The theatre is particularly well-arranged, and neat and well attended. Catherine Hayes had just been singing, and everyone was speaking of her. There are a number of pretty public gardens, at which, on evenings of fiestas, dances take place. The English merchants take the lead in the great commerce of this city, and have their club and reading-room. One of them keeps a pack of hounds. I met them with the huntsman, an Englishman, when riding in the plain near an inn, also kept by an Englishwoman, called the First Posthouse. The huntsman spoke very discouragingly of the animals and the hunting compared with England. I should think he was too young a hand to be much of a judge. The land about has a very similar appearance to the soil in Australia where gold is found, and most probably gold does exist near Valparaiso; this was noticed by

VALPARAISO.

others. There are a number of hotels, at all of which the hotel-keeper and his wife preside at a late dinner, and they do not prepare dinner at any other hour; so that if you want to dine before the table d'hote, you have to go to a restaurateur's. The Union is the best hotel. The great event is the arrival of the European mail by a steamer from Panama, bringing English news seven weeks old.

A Brazilian man-of-war was in the roads, being the first visit of one of their nation to the American western states. Brazil is beginning to take an interest in the affairs of the southern continent; but they find the Chilians (Chilenos) a very superior race to themselves. The Chilians are particularly fine, handsome, active people. A splendid picture of Valdina was on its way as a present from the Queen of Spain to the Republic of Chili, with a manuscript letter from Her Majesty. The Spanish artist was knighted on the occasion. This is as it ought to be.

The Chilian horses are small, active, wiry animals, and just now a large importation of their mules and asses to Australia would be an excellent speculation. They are cheap in Chili, and would do exceedingly well for the traffic on the wretched roads to the diggings, where horses are dear and not so useful in the mountain tracks as their humbler kindred.

Trade was beginning to spring up with Australia, and no doubt, before long, immense intercourse and interchange of goods will take place between the two coasts of the Pacific; and Valparaiso will come in for a great share of it. The snow-capped Andes make a magnificent background to all the views about Valparaiso – Acaucagua being the highest peak to be seen; it is a sublime-looking point in the moun-

CAPE HORN.

tainous range, piercing the skies with its snowy peak, and its regular white slope nobly and serenely overspreading the lower ridges.

We left Valparaiso the 13th October – having heard of the all-but-certainty of a war with Russia. On the 15th, we passed the high, green, wooded island of Juan Fernandez, the original of De Foe's "Robinson Crusoe." There are several Yankees and English in it; and immense quantities of fish are caught in the roadstead. It was a penal settlement of the Chilian Government, but is not so now.

On the 28th we passed Cape Horn, the southernmost point of a collection of islands and rocks at the extreme of South America. The weather was delightful, and not particularly cold; and with a fair wind we ran into the Falkland Islands to water (not wishing to touch at Rio on our way home), and anchored in Port Stanley on the 31st. Here we were surprised to find a really decent-sized little town, with its church, exchange, two public-houses called hotels, and two billiard-rooms, with a port full of vessels at anchor, including two large American ships; all had put in for repairs, for which the port affords every facility. Excellent water is got easily. Provisions of all kinds, except vegetables and sea-stores, at more moderate prices than at Valparaiso. The inhabitants are composed of Buenos Ayrean Gauchos and pensioners, with their families, the former being the most numerous. The Gauchos are kept to look after the cattle – to lasso them in the camp, as the grassy country in the interior is called, from the Spanish word campo, field. We got great numbers of wild fowls, geese and ducks, and rabbits as plentiful as vermin. There are quantities of a very

FALKLAND ISLANDS.

large description of snipe, but we saw none while there.

The wild-ox beef was not good; and although the people there try to persuade you they have vegetables, they decidedly fail to do so, except that they have them preserved in tins, &c.; the spinach grows pretty rich. No corn of any kind ripens; the ground is covered with a swampy grass, with, In some places, that peculiar plant the tussock grass, which affords most excellent nourishment to the numberless herds of cattle. The whole of the islands are indented in all directions with the most splendid land-locked harbours. A company, called the Falkland Island Company, have a lease of a large tract of land for 300,000l., paid to Government nominally; and if, at the end of thirty years, they can show three hundred thousand head of cattle on the land, the lease is to be made a grant. The sheep and cattle thrive well except in spring, when the young grass weakens them, and they die of cold in numbers. The company hope to pay themselves by the tallow, wool, bones, and hides. This company, with another on a smaller scale, do everything in the islands. The Falklands have a governor, his secretary, a paid magistrate, Mr. Montagu (who was dismissed from Van Diemen's Land), a colonial chaplain and surgeon, &c, – -the two representatives of the companies, a surveyor, an American consul, three or four storekeepers or shopkeepers, one or two settled officers, with about thirty pensioners and their families, and the Gauchos, being in all about five hundred and fifty souls. The colony pays none of its own expenses, and an annual grant is made by Government according to its necessities, part of which has been expended in a ridiculous building,

FALKLAND ISLANDS.

called an Exchange, and sometimes a Market-place; but in reality a useless building without a purpose, as there is no market required, nor any business to be transacted in an exchange. It is now appropriated to the meeting of captains of merchant-vessels ashore, but the billiard-room at the public-house offers greater inducements. These colonies must be of importance, no doubt, as a position to Government, but they are decidedly too bleak to offer inducements to settlers, except of the pushing, speculating, shopkeeping class, who manage to make money out of any seafaring people, let them be ever so poor. There is no wood whatever (a little laurel exists on the western island, the only shrub), nor is there coal; but for consumption in the islands, there is very good turf, and enough of it to last for a century. Fresh water trickles everywhere – and the ground is so bare, except of the grass, that you can ride in all directions over the whole country, except where there are impassable swamps. No trouble is required for agriculture; merely turn up the soil after burning the peat, and sow your crop; and boats can take produce from every spot to all other parts, no places being distant from water-carriage, except the very interior, from which you can ride to the coast without an obstacle.

Touching at these islands from the Pacific coast on the way home, and bound thence on the way out, is a great saving in the length of the voyage to the usual plan of going to Rio; and Government stores of all kinds can always be got.

Land is sold as in the Australian colonies, the upset price being, for country land, 8s. an acre. Town lots of half an acre each, and suburban lots of twenty-five acres each, are put up at 50l., and deposits may

FALKLAND ISLANDS.

be made in England, as for the Australian colonies, but depositors nominate, for a free passage, six instead of four adult labourers, for every 100l. deposited.

Nine hundred thousand acres of land in these islands are sold or leased, and three million acres remain to be sold.

H. M. S. 'Serpent' left the Falkland Islands on the 6th November, and after the most boisterous and unpleasant passage I have ever made, during a servitude of nearly twenty years, anchored at Spithead, on the 10th January 1854; so that I have now completed the three years, and close my little narrative.

CHAPTER XIX. Emigration...

CHAPTER XIX.

Emigration – Advantages of Australasian Colonies over others, and their comparative Merits – Passage out – Who should and who should not Emigrate – Difficulties in way of Land Purchases, &c. – Happiness in View for Immigrants – Things to take out – Emigration Returns and Commissioners' Regulations.

THE British Islands, with an area of 122,518 square miles, contain 27 1/2 million people. The poor-houses throughout the land tell us, in simple but forcible language, that these acres, together with the manufactures which are exchanged for food, wealth, and luxuries, do not produce enough, according to the present division of these things, to clothe, feed, and educate an immense proportion of the population.

The enormous numbers of annuitant, benevolent, and life insurance societies, speak to us of care taken to provide for those who, at our death, would otherwise starve.

Burial societies silently and miserably whisper to us that there are some among us who have to prepare the means of burying ourselves, and of leaving those left destitute by us some small sum to keep up life while our bodies are among them unburied.

Much of the charity of the upper and more wealthy classes, given to help on life at home, only adds to the increasing misery.

We have among us enough of vice already, without

TENDENCY TO EMIGRATE.

bringing forward the practice of Malthus's theory – decreasing marriages. Our law reports show (I say it confident of its correctness) more prostitution and drunkenness, without this grand and unchristian addition, than any place in the world.

The present tendency to emigrate is a great blessing; but we cannot increase it too much till we have no poor. Every man who leaves the country gives place to one out of work, and will consume our manufactures, and produce more for us in the under-populated country he goes to, besides (for let us not be utterly selfish) being welcomed as an increase to the means of happiness.

To look to our own interest again, the territorial funds of the colonies pay great proportions of the expenses of the passage of our emigrants: the small sums required for the remainder are less than the average life expense of a pauper; and it is a mistake to fear too great immigration. All our colonies use our manufactures; many send home their own produce and have it returned manufactured: thus adding to the capital of their adopted country, increasing our shipping, and employing our labourers; and, it must be recollected, that our colonists consume more of everything than they would were they at home – they dress better, feed better, and even spend more money in getting education for their children, as they get on in. the world themselves.

The crime of child-murder (we must not shirk the question) is of fearfully-often occurrence. Poverty causes many to forget in their misery the commandment, "Thou shalt do no murder;" and a mother commits it on her own offspring. Thousands have never heard of the commandment, and think it not an

POVERTY AND CRIME.

unkind or cruel act to keep their little ones from the miseries experienced by themselves.

Up to the last few years, we have sent to our colonies those guilty of these and all other crimes, instead of preventing their falling, by peopling our magnificent possessions with the hard-working but not criminal poor, and thus checking the incentive to crime, instead of adding a premium on it. Our record of vice would have shown a far different page if we had done this: every man leaving would have taken away a proportionate inducement to vice from the country. One who has lately written oh the subject says truly, "Our criminals are our most favoured children; we punish them with education, and sacrifice the best interests of commerce and industry in order to devote all our extensions of empire to the exigencies of crime. To be well instructed, an English child had better get into gaol; if his father seeks to emigrate, he can only get a free passage as a transported convict." – Adderley.

For my own part, I have such a confidence in the influence of good example and happiness, morally speaking, on many of those who have unfortunately broken human laws, that the emptying of an English gaol of its inmates and throwing them among a virtuous large community of well-to-do people, in a new and thriving country, and dispersing them there, would do no harm, but, on the contrary, good; they would be influenced by the moral aspect around them, and the comparative easy means of living respected in the world, and would work, and, in time, show a good example to others. This idea cannot be construed into a tacit approval of the expediency of sending our criminals to our colonies. They (the colonies), when

UTILITY OF EMIGRATION.

arrived at maturity, are to be considered in the question, and do not want our criminals; they already have enough; and in Victoria and New South Wales the elements of good are not in so large a proportion as to be enabled to cope with so great an increased amount of evil.

I am so impressed with a sense of the deep value of emigration, from one over-peopled part of the empire to another almost uninhabited – from home, with its hard-working, anxious, and, in many cases, poorly-fed-and-clothed millions, to Australasia, where here is everything awaiting them – that I think all charities of every kind would do well to make it the ultimate point of all their acts as far as possible: it would be a double blessing, to the recipient and giver.

Which is best? as regards the pauper, out-of-employ artizan with his family begging in the street, or to the charitable person wishing to assist them? to give a shilling from the pocket, or to name them to some charity and subscribe with friends to send them where they may without breach of charity be left to starve if they will not take employ with good wages, or for the official system, the poorhouse union, to act in a similar way? to feed them idle, or to send them to produce something in return for the money spent on them?

We have witnessed in America, and particularly in all the Australasian colonies, not one but numbers of cases of men from home, with originally nothing, becoming rich and bringing up families, better than many of the poorer of the middling classes at home, whose life is a makeshift, spent in dread of their children being left unprovided for.

There is then an outlet for our over-population. The Australian colonies contain –

AREA OF AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

New South Wales 24,000,000 acres settled, and altogether about... 900,000,000 acres.
Victoria...... 63,000,000 [acres]
South Australia.... 200,000,000 [acres]
Western Australia.... 800,000,000 [acres]
New Zealand (three islands).. 49,000,000 [acres]
Van Diemen's Land... 14,000,000 [acres]

Here are upwards of 2,000,000,000 acres, all a part of the empire of Great Britain, and all those parts in 26° S., offering the advantages of a magnificent climate, fine coasts, and countrymen to be met with everywhere: The centre of Australia, in the twenty-sixth line, is not yet known; but it is not wanted. There is a coast line all round of from one hundred to four hundred miles inland, offering every inducement and facility to settlers of all descriptions, from the princely capitalist to the labourer.

New Zealand and Van Diemen's Land agree most in climate with Great Britain, and the continental settlements are very like the climates of the north coast of the Mediterranean.

We carry with us all our home privileges and liberties; for the small nominee sediment in the different assemblies merely keeps at present a check on the too-natural tendency of a powerful colony to throw off the connexion with the parent country; and when these countries may become sufficiently able to take care of themselves, there can be no reasonable doubt but that it will take place quietly, and our colonies will become powerful and friendly allies. At present the element of the change can be hardly allowed to exist at all. In no society have we heard a hint of such a thing. A general feeling of anxiety to keep up the connexion with the ennobling history of the parent country pervades all ranks, mixed, of

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

course, with an active feeling of determination that the interests of the colonies should be looked after in all their points fully and satisfactorily; and the Home Government, indeed, show every wish to do this now, In New Zealand, particularly, freedom may be said now to exist more than hi any country in the world, without that very bad tyrant – fear of the people overruling everything, as it does in the North American States.

The press is free everywhere, and papers are published, giving vent to public feeling and wishes. The postage system is in each colony carried out pretty well; but between New Zealand and the others there is at present very little regularity: and the English steamers touch at King George's Sound, in Western Australia; Adelaide, in South Australia; Melbourne, Victoria, and Sydney, in New South Wales: colonial steamers running to many intermediate ports and to Tasmania, but not yet to New Zealand.

All churches are assisted by Government in proportion to their numbers, the Churches of England and Rome having their bishops in all the separate colonies, West Australia excepted. Convictism is done away with in all, with the same exception.

The duties on all articles introduced are very small, spirits and tobacco excepted; and the continental colonies produce both. There are no rates, income or other taxes.

Food of all kinds, as good as at home, is plentiful; and, notwithstanding the change brought about in prices by the large quantities of gold found, is still cheap. Beer, an article that has almost become a necessary with the lower classes, is dear; but in time

STATE OF EDUCATION.

the colonial beers (now not very good) will improve, and they (the colonial beers) are cheap now.

Clothes are a little dearer than in England; but the climate in general does not require so much clothing.

The means of education exist, from the university to the orphan and native schools; and it would be almost impossible for a man, long resident anywhere at home, to go to any part of the colonies, and not find some old friend, some townsman he has well known, or some labourer he has worked with, to welcome him and give him a helping hand.

Every comfort is provided in the vessels of the Colonial Land and Emigration Society for their passengers; and the best regulations are in force to stop all improprieties on the passage. A few years ago this was not the case, and evidence of this is witnessed now in the chief cities of the antipodes; but in the society's vessels precautions are taken to prevent the possibility of such occurrences. At Plymouth, generally the last port of departure, there is an establishment with a salaried chaplain of the society; and, till the ships are ready, emigrants waiting are housed, fed, and looked after at the Emigrants' Home.

Libraries exist here and in the ships; and ladies collect, at Plymouth and elsewhere, clothing and materials, the former for patterns, and the latter to be made up during the passage to employ the minds of the adventurers; and a surgeon, a schoolmaster or mistress, a matron, and a religious instructor (generally a clergyman), are in all the ships, and should be in all the private ships.

From the list annexed it will be seen what classes

HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.

are most required. The less the sum necessary to defray the part expense, the more is the class wanted both as to age and as to their divisions.

It is an odd thing, but nevertheless true, that the wish to emigrate exists strongest in the very class least of all wanted.

Clerks and counter-assistants, and generally young men of the middle classes, well educated but unable to work with regular labourers, get disgusted with the monotony of life at a desk or behind a counter; and hearing of the wonders of the colonies, with visions of green fields and love in a cottage in the Australian bush, get what money they can together and emigrate; and females of the same class, young ladies accomplished and educated, left, unable to exist on their means, and with perhaps no friends to assist them to become governesses at home, or, if able, unwilling to be all their lives single, think they must be married directly they arrive in the colonies – they save and emigrate.

And the colonial papers show that they have arrived, by advertisements of "Educated young men of experience as clerks, &c, would be happy to meet with employment." Or, "A young lady, with the highest testimonials, wishes for an engagement as governess in a family, where great care in the education," &c, &c.

Or, perhaps, the former, the clerk, goes to the diggings, and makes money; but he cannot always remain at that work. The desk is better – he tries again for employment.

And both have difficulties in getting that employment almost as great as in England.

Let them not try it, unless they make up their

WANTS OF THE COLONIES.

minds to labour; and no young lady, unless she has strong recommendations to relations or exceedingly well-known and tried friends, and capital enough to live respectably for a year or more without salary.

The wealthy man is wanted in the colonies, and his own interests would lead him there, for capital as well as labour makes capital there. Sheep-farming is making interest on interest, and doubling capital very quickly.

And laying out large amounts in goods, with due care and attention to the markets, returns more money in Australia than anywhere; besides that more interest is given for money and in safe securities there than in any other part of the world perhaps at present.

It is a difficult matter to form a correct opinion as to the good or not of emigration of people of the middle classes, with limited but certain incomes arising from – - not capital that can be touched or sold, but – annuities or half-pay, &c. If the income is so small as not to leave anything at the end of the year, or not to allow something to be employed during the year, but merely to keep the person or family from hand to mouth, we would say, Stop at home. Provisions at present are not much dearer at home; and of luxuries, more, perhaps, can be got for a small income here than abroad; but let one young son go out, if you have friends to put him in the way to look out for sheep, cattle, &c., and he will get on and pioneer the way for his brothers and sisters. To people with more than this, by all means go, invest your little, but keep your annuities to fall back on – your children will be lords of the soil.

But it is to the workman and workwoman for daily

HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.

wages that the colony says, Come to us, and we will pay you more than you dream of, and you will find comforts and even luxuries ready. Your clergyman will meet you, your townsmen expect you, and work is ready for you; and you will find another England here at the Antipodes, with sons as free as yourselves:; and with your own institutions, and no chance of poverty.

You will have no need of strikes for higher wages, no jostling with fellow-labourers. There is work for thousands on thousands of you, and you can get it certainly, and do much as you like – you, your wives, and your children; the more children you have, the richer you will be. No doctors' bills for your families, for the country is healthier than your own. No tax-gatherer coming to bother you, pen and paper in hand. Only keep from drink, and you must be successful. There are schools of every denomination, partially assisted by the colonial governments, for your children. If you were this moment transplanted from your town at home into the streets of one of the towns of the Australasian colonies, out of sight of the plants, trees, and shrubs, the only way you would know you were not merely in another town of your own country would be by the beard and moustache of the many people around you, and this we hear is coming into vogue in England – a great pity, for it is a dirty habit where constant washing is a difficulty.

Many of the richest men in the colonies have risen from shepherds and tradesmen of small beginnings; and what do you fear? what recollections do you fear to break by leaving home? If you stay, your brothers and sons go, your sisters and daughters marry and leave you; and you will have your dear ones as near

THE PASSAGE OUT.

when you emigrate as now, for generally in the colonies you see various members of a family follow their leader, and collect not far apart. The voyage is nothing, and gives you time to think of your plans, and to inform your mind, besides, perhaps, working at your employment. The passage out averages about eighty-eight days; by steam it is less. It is a delightful voyage. From England to the tropic is only twenty-eight degrees, and then there is lovely weather through the tropics of forty-seven degrees, or 2,820 miles; from this to the Cape of Good Hope is not far; and westerly winds generally prevail from the Cape to the colonies. The passage from England has been made in fifty-six days to Melbourne.

New South Wales and Victoria offer the greatest inducement to the shepherd, miner, blacksmith, bricklayer, carpenter, mason, sawyer, wheelwright, and the capitalist.

New Zealand to the gentleman with small means, wishing for quiet life, and to improve his position and settle his children; the half-pay officer, the farmer, gardener, &c.; but all artificers in all the colonies are sure of good work and good pay.

There is not so much busy speculation and activity of commercial pursuits in New Zealand as in Tasmania and the continental colonies. Life there is more quiet. Farms pay well. Sheep-grazing in the middle island is becoming a grand feature, and herdsmen and shepherds do well there, either at Nelson or Canterbury; and land is cheaper now in New Zealand than elsewhere, excepting the Canterbury settlement

There is very little or no good land for sale in Tasmania, which is a pity, for very little of what is sold is being cultivated, nor is it all stocked; but it is a de-

PREFERENCE OF THE

lightful colony for people of moderate capital, the climate being very superior to that of the continent.

The land about the Derwent, and Esk, and Tasman would tempt any one to remain; and settlers to the other colonies, calling in for repairs or for water, have been sorry when their vessels left for their destinations, wishing to remain at Hobarton. Convictism was the great drawback to this colony: it is so no more, and the great tide of emigration from Tasmania to the diggings of Victoria has left room for a large supply of labourers there; and all the different artizans mentioned as required in the other colonies are equally welcomed here, and meet with instant work and excellent wages. I have seen a convict ship arrive at Hobarton, and, after being surveyed, the prisoners have come ashore, all engaged, and on the mails and other coaches they have at once started as free labourers and servants, with high wages and the best and most solid food, such as many never heard of before they were transported. They looked as if they could not believe the fact. The crowd round the coach, the prisoners all at once, as it were, free, and travelling in a fine country, with everything they could want, except leave to go out of the colony, which it would be odd if they wanted. Now this is happily stopped, and free immigrants are much required, and will meet with instant employ.

The Australasian are preferable to the other colonies open to emigration for the following reasons: – British America, including the Canadas, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Cape of Good Hope, are the only colonies we call open to emigration besides the Australias: for the work in India and the tropical

AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

islands in the West Indies is done by blacks, and no one goes to these determined to remain there with his children; whereas in the others mentioned, people go with the intention of, perhaps, revisiting the land of their birth, but having fully made up their minds to look upon that of their adoption as their future home.

The whole of the American colonies are better peopled than the Australasian; emigrants are not wanted so much; the revenues are not so great; wages are less; the consumption of home-manufactured articles is not near so large; and the climate in winter is more severe.

The Cape colony has a troublesome collection of native and hybrid neighbours constantly giving trouble. It has very few good ports, and has no great mineral wealth, besides being on a continent that never appears to prosper.

The Australians have land, harbours, minerals, food, climate, wealth, and everything in their favour, and in all human probability will become a mighty wealthy southern empire, and the emigrant to them may look forward to his posterity being leading men there.

The prices of everything will be kept at the lowest market level, from the quick conveyance of intelligence and traffic; for steam has now made a suspension bridge between Great Britain and her antipodean colonies, the piers of which are the cylinders of the marine steam-engine.

To the poor working emigrant coming out, I would recommend to bring with him merely clothes enough for the passage of four months, of all weathers, but chiefly hot weather. Serge is worn universally in the colonies; a bale of blue serge takes up no room, and would be a most useful article, and could be made up

OUTFIT FOR EMIGRANTS.

on the way. It is generally worn as a kind of Guernsey frock, with rockets, over the trousers, with a waistbelt outside the frock instead of braces. This is the colonial dress of farmers, storekeepers, diggers, and, in fact, everyone out of the towns. Thick boots and shoes, with nails, might also be taken out to advantage till labour becomes cheaper in the colonies. We could never get shoes like those made at home, and the ready-made ones sent out never turn out well.

The best tools of the trade should be taken out, those sold in the colony being of a very second-rate quality, made for exportation. All other articles can be purchased there at a small advance on English prices, and more suitable to the country and climate than chance purchases in England; sometimes a glut in the markets of particular things causes their sales at even reduced English prices. Guns and ammunition of all sorts are to be got very cheap in the towns at auctions. Books are always expensive. Take out all; they are useful on the voyage, and if in the way on arrival at the port can be sold by auction.

And let every passenger, rich and poor, about to embark for the colonies, recollect that but a small allowance of water is necessarily issued; consequently duck or serge trousers, and articles of that kind, that can be washed in salt water, are the cleanliest and best articles. The seamen of our ships-of-war scrub their clothes regularly in salt water, and do not suffer from the dampness. Those who can afford it, of course, will take out a sufficient supply of clean linen; but let the poor emigrant recollect that the passage in some parts is very hot, and he cannot wear the same articles without washing constantly, unless with great danger to his health. Gentlemen coming out will do well to

OUTFIT FOR EMIGRANTS.

encumber themselves with as little luggage as possible. Everything can be got in the colonies; and, except in Sydney and the large cities, Bond-street-cut clothes are rather out of place, and give the wearer the certain look of a new chum.

In the cities out of New Zealand (for we must call Auckland one), people dress pretty much the same as in England; but in the bush and at the diggings the beard and moustache are permitted to adorn the man (perhaps with the present English-becoming-notion of the health being the better for it), and thick half-boots, well laced and nailed. Serge frock, corduroy trousers, and a straw hat are the thing. The very ardent sportsman may take out a Westley and Richards' gun and English ammunition if he likes; but very good shooting-irons can be got there by the man who is not intent upon knocking down small birds a great part of his time. Let no one be green enough, however, to take out fishing gear. There is no fishing except bottom fishing in the sea harbours; and flies attract as many fish angling from the rods of shops in Oxford Street as they would in the colonial rivers. A small carpenter's chest of tools, with magnet turnscrews, is useful to put traps to rights in the bush; but it should be very small, and contain only the most often-wanted articles: saws, gimlets, axes, iron hammers, bradawls, pickaxe, measure, files, and chisels.

Let the married man not wait to see if he succeeds to send home for his wife, nor the unmarried wait to get married till he goes out. Let them take their wives out, and they will succeed; and the wives will be the great inducement to keep them from the chief bane of the colonies, drink, with its train of concomitant vices. It is too truly a fact that the southern

ADVICE TO WORKMEN.

colonists drink hard. Everywhere you meet with drunkenness. People who would be horrified at the bare idea of taking too much drink at home give way to it in these colonies.

The working man should work for wages for a year to see about him. By the end of that time he will know the colonial climate, customs, prices, &c, and will be ready for the first opening. Indeed, the man of property should not be in a desperate hurry; he can get good interest for his money while looking about him, say six per cent, certain, while he can be learning more about land and labour, sheep and cattle, &c, and he will be then better able to purchase or take a lease of the land; but neither should waste time in the extravagant towns: and it is a great pity the governments of the colonies do not make the purchasing of land a more easily and quickly-settled affair; the delays of auctions and getting legal possession are very expensive and very sickening to the anxious new-comer.

The digger has, of course, to walk up to the diggings at once and set to work. Let him go to the commissioner at once, get his licence, and pitch on a spot for the time, not buying a claim, but working quietly till he becomes used to the work, and contenting himself with a moderate washing at first, till he becomes used to the work, sees the nature of the ground, and understands the probable appearances of a good gold locality; and when he is well up to all the doings of the diggers, bullion-brokers, and people about, as to peppering claims, and many other dodges, as well as to the manner of living, let him, with good fellow-workmen, find and get a good claim, work it well, and not spend his hard earned gold in the potshop. He will then be

RATE OF WAGES.

sure to do well, and save so as, when tired of the work (which sooner or later he is certain to be), to be able to turn his money to other account, and work in a more natural and, perhaps, respectable way, and leave to others to go through the ordeal, till digging merges into regular mining, and is no longer an indiscriminate rush of all sorts to hard work, diet, hardship, disgust, and gold.

In Australia generally, except near the large towns (where they are rented), there are no small farms; all are large sheep-runs, or vast tracts of land. In New Zealand small farms can be got; and there the climate, the mode of settlers' living, and everything are more like home than in the other colonies. Some of the farms in New Zealand are very like those of England and Ireland; and about Nelson and Otago they are Scotch in appearance. The ruddy faces of the chubby children, the rose-trellised and thatched cottages, with plots in front and orchard and kitchen gardens behind, are very home-like.

There is vast wealth latent in New Zealand for settlers to count on. Minerals of all kinds, with coals and wood and water carriage, everywhere exist. The constant rain, though exceedingly unpleasant, draws up luxuriant crops, which are easily carried to town, to be conveyed to the continental cities, where they fetch large remunerative prices. All classes find an opening, from the man of capital to the mechanic. The Maories make excellent coast sailors, and carry the settlers' produce about in small schooners of from ten to forty tons. At present wages are not so high in New Zealand, and the other colonies offer more money for labour and capital; but this may not last long, and things are cheaper in New Zealand; besides, the way

RATIO OF EMIGRATION.

of living there is more similar to that at home, and the climate, though not so pleasing, is more healthy and bracing than the continental colonies.

The emigration from the United Kingdom in 1853 amounted to 329,937; of whom 62,915 were English, 22,605 were Scotch, 192,609 were Irish, and 31,459 were foreigners; the remainder, 20,349, being unclassed.

230,885 of the above number of emigrants have gone to the United States, and but 61,401 to the Australian colonies.

What a pity that the large proportion who have added to the wealth of the United States have not gone to our own colonies, to consume our own manufactures and produce for us!

During the quarter ending 31st March 1854, 48,565 persons have emigrated from the United Kingdom; of whom, 36,067 went to the United States, 825 to British America, 11,024 to the Australian colonies, and 649 to other places.

The present regulations of the Emigration Commissioners (April 1854) are as follows: –

(i.) GENERALLY FOR ALL THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES – -

1. The emigrants must be of those callings which from time to time are most in demand in the colonies, and which at present in all are agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, miners, blacksmiths, bricklayers, carpenters, masons, sawyers, wheelwrights, and gardeners (and, let us add, shoemakers). They must be sober, industrious, of general good character, and have been in the habit of working for wages; of all of which decisive certificates will be required. They must also be in good health, free from all bodily or mental detects; and the adults must, in all respects, be capable of labour, and going out to work for wages at the occupation specified on their application forms. The candidates who will receive a preference are respectable young women trained to domestic or farm service, and families in which there is a preponderance of females. (This latter condition does not apply to Western Australia. )

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

2. The separation of husbands and wives, and of parents from children under eighteen, will in no case be allowed.

3. Single women under eighteen cannot be taken out without their parents, unless they go under the immediate care of some near relatives. Single women over thirty-five years of age are ineligible. Single women with illegitimate children can in no case be taken.

4. Single men cannot be taken unless accompanying their parents and at least a corresponding number of sisters. (This rule is not applicable to New South Wales.)

5. Families in which there are more than two children under seven or less than three under ten years of age, or in which the sons outnumber the daughters (inapplicable to New South Wales); widowers and widows with young children; persons who intend to resort to the gold-fields, to buy land, or to invest capital in trade; or who are in the habitual receipt of parish relief; or who have not been vaccinated or not had the smallpox; or the wives and children of persons who have emigrated and. left their families behind; – cannot be accepted.

APPLICATION AND APPROVAL.

Application must be made to the Commissioners in the form annexed. The filling up the form is merely to bring the applicant's case fully before the Board. It confers no claim to a passage, and implies no pledge that the candidate (though within the Regulations) will be accepted; for as the applications are usually more numerous than the funds, only the most desirable of even eligible candidates can be chosen. Applicants may have to wait some time before their applications can be considered.

If approved of, the applicants will receive a printed "Approval Circular," calling tor the payment required, and pointing out how the money is to be paid. After it is paid, they will, as soon as the Commissioners' arrangements will permit, receive an embarkation order (not transferable), naming the ship in which they are to embark, and the time and place of joining her. Applicants must not leave their homes before the receipt of this order.

CAUTION TO APPLICANTS.

No preparation must, on any account, be made by the applicant, either by withdrawing from employment or otherwise, until they receive the "Approval Circular." Applicants who fail to attend to this warning will do so at their own risk, and will have no claim whatever on the Commissioners.

The selecting agents of the Board have no authority to bind the Commissioners, nor to promise passages in any case, nor to receive money. If, therefore, applicants wish to make their

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

payments through the agents, instead of in the manner pointed out in the "Approval Circular" they must understand that they do so at their own risk, and that the Commissioners will in no way be responsible.

Should any signatures attached to an applicant's paper prove not genuine, or any personation be attempted, or any false representation be made in the papers, not only will the application be rejected, and the contributions forfeited, but the offenders will be liable, under the Passengers' Act, to a penalty not exceeding 50l.

Should any applicant be found, on personal examination at the depot, or on board, to have made any misstatement in their papers, or to have omitted to state any material fact, or to have any infectious disorders, or otherwise not to be in a fit state of health for the voyage, or to have any mental or bodily defect likely to impair their usefulness as labourers, or to have left any of their young children behind, or to have brought with them more children than were mentioned in their application form, or expressly sanctioned by the Commissioners, or to have attempted any deception whatever, or evasion of these rules, they will be refused admission on board the ship, or, if embarked, will be landed, without having any claim on the Commissioners. If after embarkation emigrants are guilty of insubordination or misconduct, they will be re-landed, and forfeit their payments.

If applicants fail to attend at the appointed time and place for embarkation, without having previously given to the Commissioners timely notice and a satisfactory reason, or if they fail to proceed in the ship, or are rejected for any of the reasons specified in the preceding article, they will forfeit their contributions, and will have no claim to a passage at any future time.

OUTFIT, &C.

The Commissioners supply, free of charge, provisions, medical attendance, and cooking utensils at their depot and on board the ship. Also new mattresses, bolsters, blankets, and counterpanes, canvas bags to contain linen, &c, knives and forks, spoons, metal plates, and drinking mugs, which articles will be given after arrival in the colony to the emigrants who have behaved well on the voyage.

The emigrants must find their own clothing, which will be inspected at the port by an officer of the Commissioners; and they will not be allowed to embark unless they have a sufficient stock for the voyage, nor less, for each person, than –

For Males.

Six shirts, six pairs stockings, two warm flannel or Guernsey shirts, two pairs new shoes, and two complete suits of strong exterior clothing.

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

For Females.

Six shifts, two warm and strong flannel petticoats, six pairs stockings, two pairs strong shoes, and two strong gowns, one of which must he warm.

But for each child, nine shirts or shifts, four warm flannel waistcoats, and one warm cloak or outside coat, six pairs of stockings, two pairs of strong shoes, and two complete suits of exterior clothing are required. There must also be at least three sheets for each berth, and four towels and two pounds of marine soap for each person. The necessary brushes and combs, and clothes-brushes for cleanliness, must be provided by the emigrants. Emigrants must not have less than the above outfit; but the larger the stock of clothing the better for health and comfort during the voyage, which usually lasts about four months; and as the emigrants have always to pass through very hot and very cold weather, they should be prepared for both; two or three coloured serge shirts for men, and an extra supply of flannel for women and children, are strongly recommended.

With a view to the promotion of cleanliness and health during the voyage, the hair of all children under twelve years of age must be cut close before embarkation, and kept short during the voyage. If this has not been done before arrival at the depot, it will be cut there. Parents should provide a proper comb for the purpose.

The emigrants should take out with them the necessary tools of their trade that are not bulky. But the whole quantity of baggage for each adult must not measure more than twenty cubic or solid feet, nor exceed half a ton in weight. It must be closely packed in one or more strong boxes or cases; but no box must exceed in size fifteen cubic feet. Large packages and extra baggage, if it can be taken at all, must be paid for. Mattresses and feather beds will in no case be taken.

All applications should be addressed, post-paid, to S. WALCOTT, Esq., No. 8, Park Street, Westminster.

SHIPPING ARRANGEMENTS.

The Commissioners engage none but first-class vessels, which are despatched from London, Plymouth, and Liverpool; but other ports may be added by-and-by. At these ports the Commissioners have depots fitted expressly for the reception of emigrants who are assembled there previous to embarkation, and are lodged and fed free of charge from the day named in their embarkation order. In the ships the preservation of good order, as well as the comfort of the people, is held in view. Married couples and their young children occupy separate berths in the middle of the vessel, families being kept together; while the

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

single men and single women are placed in distinct compartments at opposite ends of the ship.

The Commissioners supply provisions. Medical comforts, consisting of arrowroot, sago, preserved meats, potatoes, and milk, stout, wine, &c, to be used as dieted by the surgeon.

A surgeon-superintendent has medical charge. A matron is placed over the single women; and, when practicable, a schoolmaster is appointed for the benefit of adults as well as children.

The emigrants are victualled in messes of six or eight by the following scale: –

DIET SCALE FOR THE VOYAGE.

DIET SCALE FOR THE VOYAGE.

WEEKLY: –

Mixed Pickles .... One gill.
Mustard..... Half an ounce.
Salt...... Two ounces.
Pepper..... Half an ounce.

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

Children between one and fourteen receiving half rations.

While in port, and for one or two days afterwards if practicable, two-thirds of a pound of fresh meat, one pound and a-half of bread, one pound of potatoes, per adult, are issued, with a suitable supply of vegetables, in lieu of the salt and preserved meat, and of the flour, suet, raisins, rice, and peas.

At the termination of the voyage, the emigrants may remain on board and receive rations free of expense for fourteen days, in order to afford them time to make arrangements for settling themselves in the country.

On reaching the colony the emigrants are received by a Government emigration officer, who will give every information and advice in his power as to wages, places where employment may be most readily obtained, &c.: and they are at perfect liberty, as far as the Emigration Commissioners are concerned, to engage themselves to any one willing to employ them, and to make their own bargain for wages.

The contributions required are, for New South Wales: –

PAYMENTS AND CONDITIONS.

Male and unmarried female emigrants of or above fourteen years of age will no longer receive free passages, but must repay, either in this country or in the colony, the greater part of the cost of their passage, according to the following scale. For the present this cost is fixed at 13l. for emigrants of the first class, and at 15l. for emigrants of the second class. No payments will be required for wives or for children under fourteen years of age accompanying their husbands and parents. See p. 296.

Every male or unmarried female emigrant of or above fourteen years of age, who does not pay to the Commissioners the full sum of 13l. or 15l., as the case may be, must, before embarkation, sign an indenture or undertaking, in the form marked (A), either to repay within fourteen days after arrival in the colony the balance of their passage-money mentioned in the second column of the above scale; or to take service, under an agreement according to the form marked (B), to serve for two years an employer who will repay to the Colonial Government such balance, and deduct it by eight quarterly instalments out of the emigrant's wages.

Form of Indenture or Undertaking to be signed before embarkation by every male or unmarried female, of or above fourteen years of age, to repay the balance of their passage-money, or to serve some employer in the colony who will repay it for them.

(A.)

We whose names are severally hereunder written, in consideration of a passage being provided for us and (as the case may

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

SCALE OF PAYMENT.

SCALE OF PAYMENT.

be) our respective wives and families by Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners, at the expense of the colony of New South Wales, severally bind ourselves either to repay to the immigration-agent of that colony for the time being the sums set against our respective names, in sterling British money, within fourteen days after our arrival in the said colony, or to take service with any employer in the said colony, with whom we may agree during that period, and who shall be approved of by the said immigration-agent, and shall forthwith pay to him one-half of the sums set against our names respectively, and shall bind himself to pay the residue thereof to the immigration-agent for the time being in twelve calendar months, or within any shorter period of the date of such employment. And in default of our

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

making any such agreement with the consent of the said immigration-agent, and in the form prescribed by law or the regulations of the Government, we hereby agree and bind ourselves to take such other employment and to accept such wages as the said immigration-agent may procure for us respectively; and we hereby, respectively, give him full power and authority, with or without our future consent, to sign on our behalf a contract of service with any employer whom he may select on our behalf, for the term of two years, to be computed from the date of such contract, it being always understood that any such employer shall be at liberty to deduct from any wages that may accrue or become due to us respectively during the said term, at the rate of one-eighth of the sums so set against our respective names in each three calendar months of such service; and, further, that at any time after the expiration of the first year thereof, we shall be respectively at liberty, on giving our respective employers three calendar months' previous notice, to put an end to such contract and service by paying up the balance of the said sums then due by us for our passage. Witness,

FORM OF AGREEMENT to be signed by Emigrants after arrival in the colony, to serve for two years the employer who may undertake to repay the Colonial Government the balance of their passage-money.

(B.)

Memorandum of Agreement made this day between A. B., Esq., the immigration-agent of this colony for the time being of the first part, C. D., a free immigrant, per ship – – - of the second part, and E. F., of – – - of the third part. The said C. D. engages to serve the said E. F. as a – – -, and otherwise to make – – – generally useful for the term of two years, to be computed from the date hereof; and also to obey all the said E. F. 's or his (or her) overseer's [bailiffs] or authorised agent's lawful and reasonable commands during that period, in consideration of which services the said E. F. doth hereby agree to pay the said C. D. wages, at the rate of – - pounds – - shillings (£ – – -) per annum, payable quarterly, to provide him (or her) with the understated rations weekly, and to defray the expense of his for her) conveyance to the place at which he (or she) is to be employed, it being always understood that the said E. F. is to be at liberty to deduct from any wages that may accrue or become due to the said C. D., by eight equal quarterly deductions, the sum of – – -, being the full sum due by the said C. D. to the Government of this colony for his (or her) passage thereto.

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

WEEKLY RATION.

Beef or Mutton. 10 lbs.
Flour.... 10 lbs.
Sugar.... 2 lbs.
Tea..... 1/4 lb.

And the said E. F. hereby agrees to pay to the said immigration-agent immediately upon the execution of this memorandum the sum of £ – – -, being one-half of the amount of the passage-money due by the said C. D. to the said Government, and to pay the residue thereof to the said A. B., or to such other person as may then be the immigration-agent for the time being, at the end of one year from the date hereof.

Signatures of

A. B., Immigration-Agent. C. D, (the Emigrant), or
A. B. (on behalf of C. D. ) E. F. (the Employer. )
Witness,

N. B. – It is to be understood that this agreement (B) is to be cancelled as regards any young woman who may marry before its expiration, on payment to her employer of the balance of passage-money then remaining due.

For Southern and Western Australia and Victoria, the following payments towards passages are required: –

Age.

Under 50.

50 and under 60.

60 and upwards.

£.

£.

£.

I. Married agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, and female domestic, and farm-servants; married journeyman mechanics and artizans, such as masons, bricklayers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, sawyers, carpenters, etc., and their wives, per head

1

5

17

II. Single men, if accompanying their parents, and at least an equal number of sisters

2

..

..

III. Children under 14 years, per head.

10s.

..

..

Passages from Dublin and Cork to Plymouth and Liverpool, and from Glasgow to Liverpool, are provided by the Commissioners. All other travelling expenses must be borne by the emigrants.

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

THIS FORM OF APPLICATION IS FOR ALL THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES.

This Form, when filled up, is to be separated from the other page, and returned as a letter, pre-paid, directed to "S. Walcott, Esq., Park Street, Westminster" or to the Commissioners' Agent, from whom it was received.

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

I do hereby declare, that all the above statements are true; that I have carefully read or have heard read the Commissioners' Regulations contained in the Paper attached to this Form, and that in applying for a Passage to the Colony, I am truly acting in accordance with the spirit of those Regulations, which I understand to be this: – That the privilege of a Passage, if granted, will be allowed me on the faith that I really belong to the working class, as above described, that I am of good character, that I go to the Colony intending to work there for wages in the calling above-mentioned. And I hereby engage to sign an undertaking before embarkation, according to the form at the back hereof; and to conform to the directions of the Commissioners and their Officers, and to such Regulations as may be established for the good government and welfare of all in the Depot and during the Voyage; and I further pledge myself not to leave the Ship until she reaches her destination. And I further declare, that I have neither paid, nor agreed to pay, for the purpose of obtaining a passage, any fee or gratuity whatever, to or for the use of, the party through whom this application is made, or any one else.

Signature of Applicant,

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

It is particularly requested that no one will sign these Certificates unless convinced of the truth of their statements.

CERTIFICATE TO BE SIGNED BY TWO RESPECTABLE HOUSEHOLDERS.
N. B. This is not to be signed by Publicans, or Dealers in Beer or Spirits.
We certify that the above Form of Application was duly filled up before our Signatures were attached. That we have perused the statements therein contained, and believe them to be strictly true. That we are well acquainted with – – - – – -, know – – – to be of the calling above stated, and believe – – - to be honest, sober, industrious, and of general good character; and that none of the persons named above are deformed, deaf, blind, lame, or idiotic, or likely to become a burthen to the Colony.

Signature. – – - Residence. – – - Post Town. – – -
Signature. – – - Residence. – – - Post Town. – – -

CERTIFICATE OF A PHYSICIAN OR SURGEON.

I certify that I have examined the above-named Applicant, and his Wife and Children, and that none of them are seriously mutilated nor deformed in Person, nor, in my opinion, afflicted with any disease calculated to shorten life, or to impair physical or mental energy, and that each person appears to be of the age set against his or her name in the column above. I certify also that they have all had the small pox, or have been vaccinated, and are entirely free from every disease usually considered infectious or contagious; and that all the male adults are capable of labour in their callings.

Signature. – – - Residence. – – -

CERTIFICATE OF THE MAGISTRATE OR CLERGYMAN OF THE PARISH IN WHICH THE APPLICANT RESIDES.

I certify that I have examined the foregoing statements, and have no reason to doubt their truth. I further certify, to the best of my belief, that the above Certificates are authentic, and that the Persons whose Signatures are affixed to them, are worthy of credit.

Signature of the Magistrate. – – - Residence. – – -
Signature of the Clergyman. – – - Residence. – – -
Signature of the Roman Catholic Priest. – – - Residence. – – -

DECLARATION OF COMMISSIONERS' SELECTING AGENT, WHERE ONE IS EMPLOYED.

I do hereby declare that I have carefully inquired as to the validity of the above Statements, and that I am perfectly satisfied of their correctness; also that I have made all other inquiries and examinations named in my Instructions, and that I believe the above parties to be in all respects desirable Emigrants. And I further declare, that I have neither received, nor agreed to receive, from or in respect of the Emigrants above described, any fee or gratuity whatever, on account of their obtaining a Passage through my Agency.

Agent for

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

The following are the AVERAGE RATES for PASSAGES by PRIVATE SHIPS to the AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

* These are the prices when the passengers are victualled according to the ordinary Diet Scale of the Ship.

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

Acres of PUBLIC LAND GRANTED and at DISPOSAL of the CROWN up to date of last Returns.

LAND.

– -

Amount Alienated.

Estimated Amount remaining for Alienation.

Estimated Amount available for Settlement.

Surveyed, and open for Settlement.

Date of Return.

AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

Acres.

Acres.

Acres.

Acres.

New South Wales,

5,572,474

300,000,000

See remarks a

See remarks b

1851

Victoria (late Port Phillip)

417,141

950,000

1,500,000

Not stated.

1850

Van Diemen's Land

2,728,787

11,754,105

Not known.

About 90,000 c

1851

Western Australia.

1,330,143

19,200,500 d

1,920,000

21,600

1851

South Australia

735,593

199,244,184 e

Not known.

251,524

Sept. 1852

New Zealand

309,000

241,000 f

Not stated.

20,000

1845

a There are millions of acres of the richest lands available for every description of cultivation within the range of the Temperate Zone.

b Under the Waste Lands Act the whole of the Colony is open to settlement. The grazing leases extend over two-thirds of the Colony, but it is only partially surveyed. There are numerous portions of land which have been surveyed and not sold, available for immediate purchase.

c Nearly all of this is now under rental.

d Within the limits of the Colony, open to selection.

e Including roads, &c.

f These are Crown lands. Government continues to make extensive purchases from the natives as required.

ABSTRACT of ORDER IN COUNCIL for promoting ORDER and HEALTH in PASSENGER SHIPS to any of Her Majesty's Possessions abroad.

1. Every passenger to rise at 7 A.M., unless otherwise permitted by the surgeon; or, if no surgeon, by the master.

2. Breakfast from 8 to 9 A.M., dinner at 1 P.M., supper at 6 P.M.

3. The passengers to be in their beds at 10 P.M., except under permission of the surgeon; or, if no surgeon, of the master.

4. Fires to be lighted by the passengers' cook at 7 A.M., and kept alight by him till 7 P.M.; then to be extinguished, unless otherwise directed by the master, or required for the use of the sick.

5. The master to determine the order in which each passenger or family of passengers shall be entitled to the use of the fires for cooking. The cook to take care that this order is preserved.

6. Three safety-lamps to be lit at dusk; one to be kept burning all night in the main hatchway, the two others may be extinguished at 10 P.M.

7. No naked light to be allowed at any time, or on any account.

REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.

8. The passengers, when dressed, to roll up their beds, to sweep the decks (including the space under the bottom of the berths), and to throw the dirt overboard.

9. Breakfast not to commence till this is done.

10. The sweepers for the day to be taken in rotation from the males above 14, in the proportion of 5 for every 100 passengers.

11. Duties of the sweepers to be to clean the ladders, hospitals, and round-houses, to sweep the decks after every meal, and to dry holy-stone and scrape them after breakfast.

12. But the occupant of each berth to see that his own berth is well brushed out; and single women are to keep their own compartment clean in ships where a separate compartment is allotted to them.

13. The beds to be well shaken and aired on deck, and the bottom boards, if not fixtures, to be removed and dry-scrubbed and taken on deck, at least twice a-week.

14. Two days in the week to be appointed by the master as washing days, but no clothes on any account to be washed or dried between decks.

15. The coppers and cooking vessels to be cleaned every day.

16. The scuttles and stern-ports, if any, to be kept open (weather permitting) from 7 A.M. to 10 P.M., and the hatches at all hours.

17 On Sunday the passengers to be mustered at 10 A.M., when they will be expected to appear in clean and decent apparel. The day to be observed as religiously as circumstances will admit.

18. No spirits or gunpowder to be taken on board by any passenger. Any that may be discovered to be taken into the custody of the master till the expiration of the voyage.

19. No loose hay or straw to be allowed below.

20. No smoking to be allowed between decks.

21. All gambling, fighting, riotous or quarrelsome behaviour, swearing, and violent language, to be at once put a stop to. Firearms, swords, and other offensive weapons, as soon as the passengers embark, to be placed in the custody of the master.

22. No sailors to remain on the passenger deck among the passengers except on duty.

23. No passenger to go to the ship's cookhouse without special permission from the master, nor to remain in the forecastle among the sailors on any account.

LONDON: W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

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