IV 



New Caledonia 65 



for the natives, they are hardly human ; I thought 

 that the Maoris were bad enough, but they are 

 polished gentlemen to these animals. We are 

 obliged to stop here a week for provisions and 

 repairs, and then we go south to Norfolk Island, 

 and so back to New Zealand.' 



From Port St. Vincent, New Caledonia. 



' \bth October 1869. 



* Here we are, and have been lying for the past 

 three weeks in perhaps the strangest and most out- 

 of-the-way place in the world. There is nobody 

 here but one Chinaman and certain natives, whose 

 dress it would be easy enough to describe, but difficult 

 to give a description of — at least in a London drawing- 

 room. We ramble about on shore looking for , 



of which we find none ; and we ramble about on the 

 reefs looking for shells, of which we find few. The 

 rivers are very strange and wild, and full of the most 

 wonderful fish, which we cannot catch, so all we can 

 do is to collect birds and flying-foxes. We were a 

 little excited yesterday by a French man- o'- war 

 running aground. The captain and I went off in 

 the night to offer our assistance. The row was 

 lovely, every dash of the oars sending up flashes of 

 the most brilliant flame ; and this, and the gleaming 

 fish rushing about in every direction, made one of 

 the most extraordinary scenes that I ever saw. 

 Make Mary look in her Cuvier for dugongs, and tell 



F 



