298 THE CnUISE OF THE ' CURAgOA.' 



anchor, belonging to Mr. Henry, and used for bringing up 



sandal-wood. Large bonitos were seen swinuning about 



the ' Curacoa,' some ten or twelve feet Ijelow the surface. 



The Commodore received a letter from Mr. Gordon tlie 



missionary, informing him of what was doing on land. A 



Mr. White, a clerk of Mr. Henry's, the sandal-Avood trader, 



came on board, and from what he said things were not 



going on satisfactorily. The natives, he told us, were 



divided into two ])arties at war with each other, and 



threatened to fall upon the White.s as soon as they had 



settled their own diSerences. Mr. White seemed to have 



great fear that he would be roasted, and so was anxious to 



get back to Sydney, which he had left eighteen months 



before. We also leai'nt that Mr. Heniy intended leaving 



with all he had in the course of the following Jaiuiaiy. 



Also that he had shipped between 700 and 800 tons of 



sandal- wood since he had been here, which was sold at 40/. 



a ton, and some latelj' had been sold whieli brought him 



45/. a toa clear of freight, commission, &c. The wood I saw 



looked yellow outside, and was a light coloured wood. 



There are young sandal-wood trees in the bush, plenty of 



them, but it will take many a year before they are fit to 



cut. The native name for sandal-wood is WaiiUo, and for 



Kauri [)ine Nitja. There is a great deal of fine timber of 



this kind on the island, where they do not exceed fifty or 



sixty feet in height, with a straight stem. I was ti)ld you 



could not fuid straight trees higher than that, but some are 



to l)e found of five and six feet diameter. At Eramanora 



