554 Voyage of the Novara. 



vember to April), from 50 to 60 American whalers put in to 

 Puynipet to take in wood and water, and fresh provisions, 

 cliiefly yams, taro, sweet-potato, poultry, and pigs. Many 

 ships, moreover, bound from Sydney for China prefer at 

 that season the voyage through the Pacific to passing round 

 the south of Australia, and thence through the Straits of 

 Sunda, or the yet more dangerous passage through Torres 

 Straits, and usually make a tolerably fast run. Thus the 

 Swedish corvette Eugenie, on her voyage round the globe, 

 performed in November, 1852, the astonishing feat of mak- 

 ing the passage from Sydney to Hong-kong, 5000 miles, in 

 the unprecedentedly short space of 37 days ! 



The number of aborigines on this island, which is about 

 60 miles in circumference, was estimated by Tellet at about 

 2000. Formerly it was as many as 5000,* but the small-pox 

 had since then committed fearful ravages among the popula- 

 tion. The circumstances under which this frightful scourge 

 was first introduced into Puynipet, throw considerable 

 light upon the history of the spread of that disease, as well 

 as much useful information upon the question of vaccination. 



In 1854, the English barque Delta arrived at Roankiddi 



* Captain Andrew Cheyne, of the English mercantile service, to whom the sea- 

 faring world is indebted for a very complete and excellent account of the islands of 

 the West Pacific, and who last visited Puynipet in 1846, reckoned the population of 

 the island at that period at from 7000 to 8000. See a description of islands in the 

 Western Pacific Ocean, North and South of the Equator, with sailing Directions, &c. 

 p. 94. London, J. D. Potter. 1852. — SaiUng Directions from New South Wales to 

 China and Japan. Compiled from the most Authentic Sources. By Andrew 

 Cheyne, first Class Master, Mercantile Navy. p. 136. London, J. D. Potter. 1855. 



