204 TEE CRUISE OF THE ' CUBAQOA.' 



had been may be gathered from the following document, 

 said to be the declaration of the offending chiefs, whom 

 Mr. Paton met immediately after the attack at a friendly 

 visit, where he landed, and to wUch he has given expres- 

 sion in the following form : — 



' Formerly we had been guilty of so many murders that 

 we feared men-of-war woidd come and pimish us ; we all 

 thought and said they durst not try, and so we delighted in 

 our bad conduct. Then we had no idea of the multitude of 

 fighting men in a man-of-war, and of her awful power to 

 destroy us and our lands ; but now we have seen it, and 

 our hearts have failed us. We are all weak and crying for 

 fear. The great inland chief, Quatangan, who came to help 

 us to fight the man-of-war, was cut down by one of his 

 chiefs (officers), and many more are hurt, and we know not 

 how many are shot and dead. Om* canoes, our houses, and 

 our lands are laid waste by his fighting men. We never 

 saw any thing like this before. Now we are all weeping 

 for our evil conduct. Go and plead with the chief of the 

 man-of-war not to punish us any more, but to go and leave 

 us, and truly we will obey his word. Tell him to inform 

 your good Queen Victoria that we will kill no more of her 

 people, but in future be good, and learn to obey the word 

 of Jehovah.' 



The alarm created by our operations seems to have been 

 general throughout the island, and promises of amendment 

 for the future came in from different quarters. 



As it was impossible for me to make uny visit to land 



