EBAMANGA. 297 



believe, the Tachypetes Aquila of the South Pacific, and 

 was killed on board the ' Cura^oa' in lat. S. 19° 15' and in 

 long. E. 161° 40'. 



On September 20, soon after we sat down to dinner, the 

 wind then blowing IST.E. by N., shifted all at once to sor.th ; 

 the ship was taken aback by the lee in a heavy squall with 

 rain, and we went astern sometime. The officer of the watch 

 turned up the other watch on deck. One would have 

 noticed nothing in the cabin to indicate what had happened 

 had it not been for the noise made by the men on deck. 

 Part of the mast had gone overboard ; it broke in three 

 pieces, two or three feet above the cap and also farther u[). 

 The men got very wet, as well as the main deck and 

 hammocks, and must have passed an impleasant night. 

 The next day an enormous quantity of rain fell, and the 

 day after there were again some squalls. 



Calms on the following days induced the Commodore to 

 have recourse to steam, and a lucky thing was it for us that 

 there were on board 100 tons of coal ; for without that we 

 should have spent a considerable time in reaching our 

 destination. 



On September 25 a magnificent sunrise lit up for us the 

 mountains of Eramanga, and at a still greater distance on 

 our starboard bow the hills of Tanna. At about eicfht 

 o'clock in the morning we cast anchor in fifteen fathoms in 

 Dillon's Bay, on the western coast of the island. The water 

 in the bay was calm and smooth as glass. There was a 

 little green schooner, called the ' John Knox,' riding at 



