80 A GLIMPSE OF SAMOA. 



rigging with bunches of bananas, and one boat 

 overhead on her keel nearly filled with luscious 

 oranges, the ship was unmoored, with the captain 

 on board and Crooked Toed Jim as pilot, we left 

 one of the finest ports of the world, and the island 

 of Tahiti, the garden of the Pacific Islands, and a 

 hospitable and clever native people, who at that 

 time were being demoralized and decimated 

 through their intercourse with what we term 

 the higher civilization. 



We proceeded on our voyage, or cruise, to the 

 Vasquez ground and New Zealand section, in 

 sight and out of sight of "French Rock," a small 

 island or rock rising perpendicularly from the 

 ocean, several hundred feet high, located north 

 of North Cape of New Zealand, which was 

 formerly a favorite feeding ground for the sperm 

 whale. Cruising here for several months, then 

 further south for right whales, and after taking 

 several, the captain put away for ports on the 

 Chilean coast. 



