TANNA. 203 



fired at and mortally wounded. At this moment Midsliip- 

 man Heathcote having come up, attempted to fire at the 

 assailants with his revolver, which had missed fire four 

 times, when a native rushed forward to club him with his 

 musket, Avhom in the act of doing so he cut down with a 

 single blow. There was reason to believe that this native 

 was one of the leading chiefs of the island, and that his 

 death had caused great consternation. The man Holland, 

 supposed to have fallen by liis hand, was an excellent sea- 

 man, and a V.C. man, and had served unhurt in the Indian 

 Mutiny, the Crimean War, and in New Zealand. Such was 

 the obscure termination of a gallant career. He was carried 

 on board, where he died in less than an hour, and his body 

 Avhich, on account of certain propensities of the Tannese, 

 could not be interred on sliore, was committed to the deep. 

 It was fortunate there was no greater loss, for I was 

 assured by the officers that, had the natives known how to 

 make use of their opportunity, the position of the little force 

 would have been critical. Fortunately Commander Dent, 

 finding his men helplessly exposed, and satisfied with having 

 destroyed several villages — some of them, however, not con- 

 taining more than four laouses — and wasting some provision 

 grounds, gave orders to return to the beach, which was 

 luckily effected without further opposition. Wliile this 

 was going on ashore, another party in the boats, under the 

 command of Mr. Scudamore tlie master, was engaged in 

 destroying all the canoes they could find along the coast. 

 A tolerable amount of retribution, no doubt ; what its effect 



