194 TEE CBUISE OF THE ' CURAQOA.' 



Lying in the harbour was H.M. ship ' Esk,' with our mails. 

 On board lier was the master of a sandal-wood vessel as a 

 prisoner, who liad shot his mate witli a revolver ; his ex- 

 planation of the act was that he had done it in self-defence, 

 the latter, after mutinous disobedience of orders, having 

 threatened to cut him down with an adze ; but, in the opinion 

 of a naval court held on board the 'Esk," this statement was 

 considered, after due inquiry, so doubtful, that he was sent 

 to Sydney for trial o\\ the charge of manslaughter. 



Here we found the Presbyterian mission brig, 'Day spring,' 

 with several missionaries on board, and among them Messrs. 

 Paton and Gordon. Both these gentlemen were bent on 

 dangerous enterprises, in which they hoped to succeed by 

 favour of Her Majesty's guns, that were soon to be em- 

 ployed in punishing and terrifying the natives of Tanna and 

 Eramanga for their misdeeds. Eelying on the jii-esumed 

 results of the intended discipline, Mr. Paton was about to 

 retimi to Tanna, though he had suffered frightfully fi'om the 

 effects of the climate during three years' residence there, and 

 had been driven from it some ten months since, after having 

 had his house pillaged, and being indebted for the preserva- 

 tion of his life to a friendly chief, who secreted him imtil he 

 liad the opportunity of getting on board a vessel which 

 called at the island. In addition to his other sufferings 

 while tliere was the death of his wife, by whose grave, he 

 says, he was obliged to watch .several nights, gun in hand, 

 to prevent the body from being stolen for cannibal pur- 

 poses. It is surprising that, wliile thus employed, he was 



