204 TEE CRUISE OF TEE ' 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 which he has given expres- 

 sion in the following form : — 



' Formerly we had been guilty of so many murders that 



we feared men-of-war would come and punish 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. Our 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 liis 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 any visit to land 



