THE NAMUKA OUTRAGE. 107 



the night. They caught some crabs,, and climbed some trees 

 for cocoa-nuts, as they had always been accustomed to do, 

 when the whites who had purchased permission to reside upon 

 the island rushed out and fired upon them ; the natives imme- 

 diately fled, leaving one canoe behind. This canoe, with the 

 property in it, was handed over to me by Mr. Allen Dolittle, 

 when I was residing at Nukubalawu, to return to Kuruduadua. 

 When I took it to the chief, he was not at all displeased at his 

 people having been driven away, and said that if they again 

 annoyed the white residents at Namuka he would himself club 

 them. 



' { Some time after this, Tui Solia was knocked down by one of 

 the whites on Namuka. Tui Solia was at this time at war with 

 Kuruduadua. The latter heard, through a deserter, that Tui 

 Solia intended to avenge the insult offered to him by plundering 

 Namuka, and put the whites on their guard. He could not 

 protect them there, as it was not in his territory, and he was at 

 enmity with Tui Solia' s tribe. He told the whites to remove 

 at once to Nukubalawu, into his dominions, where he would 

 protect them from every harm. He was evidently very anxious 

 to secure the whites from injury. Thus, so far from being privy 

 to the attack, he endeavoured to save the whites. 



' f I went at once to Namuka to warn the whites, and told them 

 of Kuruduadua' s invitation to remove for protection to Nuku- 

 balawu, and offered them the use of my boat, which they de- 

 clined. I was then sent for by Mr. Saunders, to remove him 

 from Wai Turaga to a vessel at Bau in which he had taken 

 his passage. 



" Before I returned, the attack was made on Namuka, the 

 property plundered and the white men carried prisoners to 

 Numulo, a small town on the mainland, which belonged to Tui 

 Solia. As soon as I heard this, I hastened to Nukubalawu and 

 met there Mr. A. Dolittle. Finding that nothing had been 

 done towards the rescue of the prisoners, I sent for Kuruduadua, 

 and giving him an axe, requested him to undertake their de- 



