94 NANKAURI 



have been massacred ; a white woman and two children have 

 been kept prisoners for about two years and a half, and after 

 being most cruelly treated, the poor woman, used for the very 

 vilest purposes, was, with her children, first poisoned and after- 

 wards knocked on the head : Her Majesty's ships Wasp and 

 Satellite were sent to endeavour to liberate any captives that 

 might still remain on the Islands, and to punish the natives for 

 their crimes. 



" Several towns implicated have been burnt, all the war canoes 

 destroyed, and other punishments inflicted . . ." etc., etc. 



Nor was this the only case of the kind, for although most 

 of the vessels disposed of were native, the total included not a 

 few European. There is another instance on record, in which 

 a European woman was taken ashore and so brutally abused 

 by the band of pirates that she died next day. 



It is believed that the origination of these practices cannot 

 be traced to the natives, but is due to the settlement of a body 

 of Malays, who attracted a number of the inhabitants to them- 

 selves, and then formed a gang to plunder all vessels calling 

 at the harbour, consequent upon a successful massacre of the 

 crew. 



