FIRST CRUISE OF THE "BASILISK" 355 



which explains the growing use of the English, in preference to 



the native, name, and was, at the time of the visit, one of the chief 



centres of the pearl- shelling industry. Moresby made inquiries 



into the conditions under which island labour was recruited to 



man the pearl- shelling boats, and concluded that in many 



instances the divers had only imperfectly understood alleged verbal 



agreements with their employers, who detained them for years, in 



slavery, by force or fraud ; while in still worse cases there was 



" nothing more nor less than an organised system of KIDNAPPING, 



attended at times with atrocities that it blanches the cheek and 



makes the blood run cold to hear of." At the close of the year, 



the boats were wont to sail for Sydney, each with thirty or forty 



tons of shell, worth from ^150 to ^180 per ton. The islanders, 



thus taken to Sydney, soon spent their earnings and were glad to 



ship for further services. These statements, it must be pointed 



out, were not made of Gabba Island in particular, but applied to 



the whole industry and region. The existence of abuses of this 



kind was corroborated by the Hon. John Douglas and Mr. Chester, 



P.M., and led to legislation under which island labour was regulated 



and supervised, the pearlers having to be licensed to recruit and 



employ labour and being forced to make proper agreements and to 



carry them out. 



Although the survey of the Mourilyan Reef was reserved for 

 the " Basilisk" Gabba Island itself was already well known. BLIGH 

 had passed it in 1792, with the "Providence" and "Assist- 

 ance" and Captains BAMPTON and ALT, in the " Hormuzeer " 

 and " Chesterfield" in 1793, DUMONT D'URVILLE, with the 

 " Astrolabe " and " Zelee" in 1840, and BLACKWOOD, in the " Fly," 

 in 1846. 



" Due north of The Brothers, the high peak of CORNWALLIS 

 ISLAND could be seen about 20 miles off, and occasionally, 

 when raised by the mirage, the low, wooded outline of SAIBAI 

 ISLAND, lying about 4 miles from the New Guinea coast, not 

 marked on any chart, and only recently brought into knowledge 

 by the pearl-shellers " (p. 27). Saibai Island was, in fact, first 

 charted as an island by Moresby on this occasion (p. 132). 



From Gabba, the " Basilisk " went eastward to WARRIOR 

 ISLAND (142 58' E. ; 9 48' S.). It is described as " a vegetated 

 sandbank on a coral reef and not more than 2 miles in circum- 

 ference, and yet the home of one of the most powerful tribes in 

 Torres Strait." It was also, at the date of the " Basilisk's " visit, 

 the headquarters of a pearl-shelling station belonging to Mr. 

 Merriman, of Sydney, " the largest and best- conducted in the 

 Straits," and in charge of Mr. Bedford, who gave a cordial welcome 

 to the " Basilisk" The NATIVES evidently impressed Moresby with 

 their (comparative) advancement. They had war canoes 50 or 

 60 feet in length, 6-foot bows and poisoned arrows. 



