The whole party of Excursionists had wandered along the reef to a spot at which we could embark once more, so as to row over to the next island, Fáole, which, however, the natives do not much frequent, except occasionally to collect cocoa-nuts and pandanus fruits. But as one main object had to be accomplished, namely, the supply of the ship with fresh provisions, which were not found here, some of the party went off to the principal settlement on the island of Sikayana, to barter some goods they had brought, against as much private supplies for themselves as could be conveniently conveyed to the boats and so taken on board.
While the natives were paddling along in their elegant canoes, escorting us as far as Sikayana, we offered a seat in our boat to the only white man on the island, the English
sailor already mentioned. This man was named John Davis, about forty years of age, a native of Greenwich, and was, according to his own story, left behind against his will by Captain Ross, a "sandal-wooder," who had visited this group in 1858. He stated he had just before been with Captain Ross at the Tonga Islands, where the captain sent two sailors on shore to fell sandal-wood. These men, however, got into a quarrel with the natives, who would not permit them to rob them of their property, in the course of which they lost their lives. The captain immediately proceeded to the islands himself with some of his crew well armed, attacked the unfortunate natives, shot five, and then sailed off. Davis had become obnoxious to the captain, because in consequence of over-work he had fallen ill with intermittent fever, and could not work, upon which his remorseless superior cast about how to get rid of the now useless seaman, and resolved to put him ashore by force on the next island which came in sight. What a fearful doom! To be abandoned, sick and helpless, on a lone island far from the highways of the world, where ships but seldom touched, and amid savages with whose tongue he was unacquainted! If even one were disposed to doubt the possibility of such inhuman cruelty, it would find mournful confirmation in many similar instances. To this charge the "sandal-wooders" are especially amenable, who visit the islands of the South Sea to collect the costly sandal-wood, and in the prosecution of their enterprise seem to go upon the exclusive principle that the coloured man has
no property over the natural wealth of these islands, and has no right to resist the wishes of the white man!
Commander Erskine of H.M.S. Savannah, mentions a case in which an English merchantman, engaged in the sandal-wood traffic, entered into an engagement to employ his whole crew in assisting one native tribe to overpower its neighbour, in return for which timely assistance certain places were pointed out where the coveted sandal-wood was found in great abundance. A battle took place, and a number of prisoners were carried on board the ship, of whom, during the passage to the sandal-wood-producing islands, several were in the presence of the European crew coolly slaughtered and eaten by their cannibal foes of the Fee-jee Islands!!
Davis, whom the natives for distinction's sake called simply "the white man," could not expatiate enough on the cordiality and kind treatment he received from the poor inhabitants of Sikayana during his stay. Since April no ship had called at the island, or even been visible from it. He begged the favour of a passage to Sydney, which was readily accorded him on condition he would first repay all his obligations to the natives, and that on their side there should be no objections made to his leaving. On our arrival in Sydney we learned that Captain Ross, who had put Davis ashore at Sikayana, had been tried for another still greater atrocity; he had inflicted Lynch-law, by hanging some of the natives of New Caledonia at his yard-arm. Ross was somewhat later acquitted by the judges at Sydney, but public opinion reversed the verdict.
After a row of an hour and a half we at last reached the island of Sikayana, having previously met three canoes, one of which was manned by twelve rowers, who now entered on a sort of regatta contest with us. These canoes, not more than a foot and a half wide, glide with uncommon velocity through the water, but despite their outriggers, they are not adapted for carrying much provisions. We found it quite easy to land at the place, and drew up our boat upon the sandy beach.
The world of these islanders, the entire area of dry habitable land upon this coral reef, is about one-eighth of an English square mile; no stream, no mountain, no eminence adorns the island, the highest part of which is just sufficiently elevated to enable the winds and waves to heap up sand and débris; around it on every side is the boundless ocean, and its mineral wealth is reduced to one single mineral, carbonated chalk, deposited in the brine by thousands of millions of coral-animals. Hither too the ocean in some extraordinary cases wafts pumice and other stones lighter than water, which somewhat improve the soil, or occasionally stones are transported, entangled in the roots of floating trees, with which the denizens of this little place can grind the mussel-shells, of which they make all their tools, as well as knives and hatchets.
The immense vegetable kingdom has but 20 or 30 representatives here, whose seeds have been transported hither by the sea from richer and more congenial soils, and thrown