ERAMANGA. 321 



some of tlie patlis about Dillon's Baj', Init there are no 

 roads. A little wood has been purchased from time to 

 time, but the greater portion is cut and carried off by force. 

 The last load of sandal-wood was shipped from this ill- 

 fated island, in the ' Amateur,' Captain Long, for Hongkong, 

 August 29, 1865. 



The trade in women is extremely singular. The price of 

 a damsel is two guns, say £b. A woman, at present under 

 Christian instruction, was bought some years ago by a 

 person engaged in the ti'ade, and again sold by him to 

 the present owner. One Jonas — the Missionary says — a 

 native of Manilla, bought three girls, and has also recently 

 left the island, carrying off two women. Another Malay, 

 named Joe, who shot a native of Sifu at Dillon's Bay, in 

 June 1865, has likewise gone, and dragged off his slave, a 

 fine little girl, to New Caledonia, in spite of her tears, 

 entreaties, and her father's wishes. Another young girl, 

 about twelve years of age, is at present the property of a 

 native of Tongatabu, named Moses, and her fiite is not 

 doubtful ; both are at present at Dillon's Bay. Not one 

 half is known of the oppression and violence of the pro- 

 ceedings in a trade noted for a quarter of a century for its 

 enormities. 



During the closing months of 1864, and the first of 1865, 

 there was a European fiimily of seven or eight persons all 

 told, and seveir or eight white men, besides those on board 

 vessels, living on the island. 



Indigenous to the island are the cocoa-nut tree, the bread- 



Y 



