I wonder if they lamented the death of their late lord, or whether they sought comfort in the reflection that for every dead shark there were hundreds of living ones.
The day being very hot, I was in the act of lowering a couple of buckets over the side to get a supply of salt water to cool the decks with, when somehow or other the rope attached to them slipped out of my hand, and down went the buckets to the bottom of the ocean. This was most annoying, as we were now reduced to one bucket.
Sailing in mid-ocean, and having no coast to steer by, we "took the sun" at noon each day, in order to determine our position and keep our course or alter it accordingly.
By our calculations we should soon sight North Island, as we had now been five days out at sea.
We had no chronometer on board, so we could not be certain of our exact position.
On the evening of the eighth day out from Ralume, New Britain, we found ourselves ten miles to leeward of North Island. We rectified our course and, travelling night and day, beat our way between a perfect nest of islands, at times heaving to in order to trade with the natives who came alongside in their canoes.
Without meeting with any misadventure, we reached the anchorage at "Egum," on Wednesday evening, having been ten weary days on the voyage.
Long before we had arrived at the anchorage, the rocks near the beach were covered with the naked forms of our friends. Our cutter had already been recognized, and its name was being shouted from one native to the other.
To their delight we had returned in safety from our perilous voyage, for did we not carry two distinguished members of their race on board, namely "Tokaiakus" and "Sindiwaia"?
There was much shaking of hands, and they appeared anxious to hear of the lands we had visited and the sights that we had seen.