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ROUND THE WORLD IN THE SUNBEAM'

V. (CONCLUSION). ACROSS THE PACIFIC.

FROM the Gulf of Peñas to Lota and Valparaiso we made an easy voyage in fine weather. The mines and the scenery of Lota have been admirably described in Mr. Hinchcliff's volume, Over the Sea and far away. Our short visit to Chili was full of interest. I shall pot, however, attempt to give a brief and imperfect description of the country in these pages. Such a task has indeed been rendered unnecessary by the recent able report by Sir Horace Rumbold. For its literary merits, and the acute observation and ample knowledge of the country which it displays, this report deserves to hold a high place in the valuable series of papers on foreign countries, which we have received from the diplomatic service.

We sailed from Valparaiso on the 30th of October, 1876. During our stay in port we had received on board a quantity of stores, sufficient for a voyage of two months. The last thing done before we unmoored was to fill up the tanks with a final supply of water, amounting in all to fifteen tons. We were towed out from our moorings into the offing. As we were making sail, the crew of

. H.M.S. • Opal' gave us a hearty cheer, and Captain Robinson and Mr. Henderson, his first-lieutenant, pulled alongside, and were the last to bid us a kind farewell.

The navigation of the Pacific between the distant shores of America and Asia is a simple, though a lengthy and tedious, undertaking. Vessels bound to the westward should run as rapidly as possible into the latitude where the trade winds prevail. Vessels, on the other hand, bound for America, from Australia or the coast of Asia, should stand to the northward or southward into the region of the antetrades, and follow, as nearly as may be, the Great Circle track. We were unfortunate in our start. During the earlier portion of the passage we experienced light and paltry winds. Under these most unfavourable circumstances, the one redeeming feature was the excellent performance of the Sunbeam,' in the development of whose good qualities all our nautical skill was exercised.

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On Sunday, the 12th of November, the position was 16° 53' S. latitude, and 94° 43' w. longitude. The distance made good from Valparaiso was 1,493 miles, and the distance still to be accomplished to Tahiti was 3,162 miles. At the slow rate of progress hitherto maintained, it appeared possible that the passage might occupy not less than six weeks, and I therefore determined upon putting all hands on the allowance of water specified in the articles of agreement.

We had now been nearly three weeks at sea. Throughout, the finest possible weather had prevailed; the swell of the ocean was scarcely perceptible; and the only requirement of the mariner, which nature had not provided, was a somewhat stronger breeze. Our experiences in these respects closely coincide with those of the earliest explorers of the Pacific. This ocean received its name from Magelhaens, the first European who traversed it, and who, having encountered heavy gales in the Straits, sailed into the watery expanse with a moderate south-east trade wind, and enjoyed uninterruptedly fine weather throughout the passage.

The prospects of our voyage were decidedly brighter when we cast up our account on the 19th. The run since noon on the 12th was 1,335 miles. The total distance, by the log, since our departure from Valparaiso, was 3,057 miles, while the distance made good was 3,033 miles. The difference between the run and distance made good would have been much more considerable but for the westerly current, varying from 5 knots to 15 knots a day, with which we have been almost constantly favoured. Our position was now in 15° 38' S. latitude, and 117° 52' W. longitude. The distance to Tahiti was 1,818 miles.

On the 27th of November our position at noon was in 16° 54' S. latitude, and 138° 9' W. longitude. Being now in the latitude of Tatakotoroa, or Clarke Island, which bore from our position, by observation, S. by W. 25 miles, we steered direct for it, and at 12.45 P.M. I had the satisfaction of seeing from the foreyard the palm and cocoanut trees of the island, just topping the horizon, directly ahead. After a voyage of 4,270 miles, so successful a landfall is an illustration of the perfection which the art of the chronometer-maker has attained.

At 2 P.M. we were close to the island, and here we ceased steaming, hove to, and feathered the propeller. As we sailed onward, at a distance of from one to two miles from the shore, we could easily see all the objects on the island, the vegetation, the huts of the people, and their canoes. Ą few natives made their appearance on the beach, but very quickly retired into the shelter of the woods. The mass of bright green vegetation, composed chiefly of the cocoanut tree, the palm, and the bread-fruit tree, emerging suddenly from the ocean, and seeming, as it were, rooted in its waves, presented an almost magical effect. The verdure was the more grateful and refreshing to eyes which had rested so long on the unchanging sea.

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Clarke's Island consists of a ring of coral enclosing a lagoon. To enable her better to appreciate the interesting features of this, the first atoll, or circular coral-built island, we had ever seen, Mrs. Brassey was fastened into a boatswain's chair,' and was hoisted up to the topsailyard, where I shortly afterwards joined her. She is, I am very confident, the first lady who has ever looked down on a coral-reef from an equally elevated position.

Mr. Findlay, in his South Pacific Directory, gives the following account of the Low Archipelago, or Paumotu group, to which Clarke Island belongs :

This vast collection of coral islands, one of the wonders of the Pacific, extends over sixteen degrees of longitude, without taking into consideration the detached islands to the south-east. They exhibit very great sameness in their features. When first seen the aspect is one of surpassing beauty, if the dry part of the island is sufficiently covered with trees; but much of this beauty is dispelled on a nearer approach, as the vegetation is usually found to be scanty and wiry.

The archipelago was first called 'Dangerous' by Bougainville. The native naine, Paumotu, signifies a cloud of islands.' They were originally discovered by Quiros in 1606, and were subsequently visited by Le Maire and Schouten in 1610, by Roggewein in 1772, Byron, 1765, Wallis and Carteret, 1767, Cook, 1769, 1773, and 1774, and Bougainville in 1763. The work begun by these earlier discoverers has been followed up in the present century by Kotzebue, Bellingshausen, Duperry, Beechey, Fitzroy, and Wilkes. Since their protectorate has been established at Tahiti, the French have added largely to our topographical knowledge of these islands.

Representatives of both the races by which the islands of the Pacific have been peopled—the negro and the Polynesian-are still to be found in the Low Archipelago. The natives in the western islands have been converted to the Protestant religion, which is zealously and conscientiously followed, while the French Roman Catholics have establishments at Anaa and in the Gambier group.

There are seventy-eight islands in all, eighteen of which are uninhabited, ten are still occupied by savage tribes. The south-eastern islands, being furthest removed from Tahiti—the centre of South Pacific civilisation—are the least advanced.

The native population of the entire archipelago only amounts to 3,500, of whom 700 are still uncivilised. There has been much improvement of late in the houses and clothing of the people ; and they have opened some branches of industry, the chief of which are the manufacture of cocoanut oil, and the collection of motherof-pearl shell. The value of the former production-which is all bought up by two firms at Papiete-amounts to 2,5001. or 3,6001. per annum; while the supply

n of pearl-shell varies in value from 4,0001. to 6,0007. per annum.

Tatakotoroa was discovered by Bonnecho in 1774. It is very low, and there is no entrance to the lagoon which it encloses. Our observations led us to believe that the island must be at least six miles in length and two to three miles broad. At its western extremity, on a raised platform, we observed that a large crucifix had been erected, which we accepted as a proof that the people must have been converted to the Roman Catholic religion.

At noon on the 28th of November our latitude was 17° 55' S., and our longitude 140° 43' W., the centre of Möller Island bearing VOL. III.-No. 14.

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north, and distant five miles. Steering for Hao, or Harpe Island, which is separated by a channel, not exceeding ten miles in width, from Möller Island, we bove to, at 3 P.M., off the entrance to the lagoon.

Hao is one of the most remarkable islands in the Paumotu group. It is thirty miles long, by an average of five miles broad, and consists of a band of coral, seventy miles in circuit, enclosing a vast lagoon. The north end of the island is five miles in length, and consists of a narrow strip of coral, covered with luxuriant vegetation. The island was surveyed by Captain Beechey in 1826; and here Captain Sir Edward Belcher conducted his experiments on the growth of coral.

On the low point forming the western side of the entrance to the lagoon of Hao, unconcernedly watching the evolutions of the Sunbeam,' there were gathered a numerous group of natives, clad in flowing robes of many gay and brilliant colours. Absolutely free they seemed from the pressure of the urgent and constant occupations which make life harassing and distressful in larger and busier communities. Only to listen to the murmur of the waves, as they rose and fell on the coral beach, and to lie outstretched beneath the shady palms and cocoanut trees, was employment enough for these lotoseaters of Polynesia.

The natives were described, half a century ago, as extremely friendly. The present generation certainly seems to deserve the highest character for hospitality. Mrs. Brassey landed in the gig, and met with a most kindly and cordial reception at the bands of the natives. They spread a carpet, on which she was invited to sit side by side with the wife of the chief; and they piled up before her a little heap of the produce of the island—bread-fruit and cocoanutsto which were added two small pigs and other things, forming a generous and an eminently acceptable offering.

The islanders lighted their cigarettes with Swedish matches ; their wives were clad in the cotton prints of Alsace, Switzerland, and Manchester; their food was cooked in an iron pot made at Wolverhampton. These things are signs of the times and evidences of the increasing facilities of intercourse. They tend to show how commerce promotes civilisation, and binds together, in the bonds of friendship and interdependence, the most distant nations of the earth. These far-away islanders send us mother-of-pearl; we give our fabrics in exchange. Each can render aid to the other; and mutual goodwill follows. We sailed from Hao at 6 P.M. on the 26th of November.

The distance of 500 miles to Tahiti seemed nothing after our voyage from Valparaiso. On the coasts of Europe, and with our more limited experience of former years, such a distance would have appeared a somewhat considerable undertaking.

Having called at Maitea, the easternmost island in the Society group, we found ourselves, at 8 A.M. on the 2nd of December, about

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a mile and a half from the lighthouse on Point Venus, in the island of Tahiti. The point received its name from having been chosen by Captain Cook for his observations of the transit of Venus.

As we steamed along the outer edge of the coral reefs for a distance of five miles, the dense groves of cocoanut palms and breadfruit trees, and the mountains beyond, rising in precipitous masses to a height of 7,000 feet, presented a scene of surpassing loveliness.

At 9.15 we took a pilot on board, in the narrow entrance to the reef which encloses the harbour of Papiete, and in a few minutes more we were safely moored close to the shore, and almost under the shade of the tropical foliage in which the capital of Tahiti is embosomed. Welcome, doubly welcome, such a calm and beautiful refuge, after a protracted voyage of thirty-three days, at a tedious pace, over 5,000 miles of ocean.

A plentiful supply of fruit and fresh provisions is not the least agreeable of the many incidents that mark an arrival in harbour after a long sea-passage. The “Sunbeam' was rapidly surrounded and invaded by a host of olive-brown vendors of fruit and provisions, with whom a brisk trade was carried on.

On Sunday, the 3rd of December, we attended a native service, conducted by M. Vernier, a French Protestant pastor. Although the congregation contained, as other congregations do, its proportion of the heedless and inattentive, there were many rapt listeners. The custom prevailing here of going to church furnished with a note-book and pencil, and taking copious notes of the sermon, argues a deeper interest in the discourses delivered than many preachers in England are enabled to inspire.

The latest phase of Tahitian church government was explained to me by our consul. It would appear that the rivalry of missionaries of different sects became at last so intolerable to the Tahitians, that they established a church of their own, formed on the Presbyterian model, and served by native as well as European missionaries. When the French established their protectorate in Tahiti, some of the missionaries were suspected of sowing the seeds of disaffection to the new rulers among their congregations; and an order was accordingly issued that the names of ministers elected to serve in the native church must be submitted to the government for approval. Practically the nominations have remained in the hands of the natives; but though the government have never refused to confirm the elections that have been made, they have required that the announcement of the appointment of a minister should be conveyed to him through an official channel. This intervention of the civil authorities was distasteful to the missionaries, who one by one resigned, until now only one representative of the London Bible Society remains in Tahiti. He has no ministerial office, but is invited occasionally to preach. For a passing traveller to pronounce an opinion as to the degree

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