1825-1854 19 



were mostly women, and those wlio came with Ross were for 

 the most part men. Among the ishmd stories there are to-day 

 many well-told tales of nocturnal exploits; stories of heroic 

 swims, of hasty flights, and adventures in which the women 

 were stolen — not all unwilling — from Hare's camp, and carried 

 off by the men of the Ross faction. 



In this way Ross' little band of settlers grew larger by 

 degrees, and his influence steadily increased ; whilst Hare, with 

 his ever-diminishing subjects, became more and more absorbed 

 in the butterfly pleasures of his mimic court. It is said that 

 Hare took up his residence on the islet that bears the name of 

 Pulu Bras, from its resemblance in shape to a piled-up heap of 

 rice. Pulu Bras is to-day a very small island, with an area of 

 but a few square yards ; and in the map of Jan de Marre of 

 1730 it is also shown as an inconsiderable piece of land. Yet 

 in 1827 it is said that it was much larger, and was joined to 

 the island next to it by a spit of sand. Great changes must 

 have taken place with some rapidity in this portion of the 

 island ring if the legend of his residence is true ; and it is 

 not altogether unlikely, for Pulu Bras is a pure sand island, 

 and therefore liable to change with every fancy of the wind 

 and waves ; and some few years ago it is said that parts of his 

 house were still to be seen upon it. 



The original Ross settlement was made upon the Pulu 

 Selma, but in consequence of the unfriendly relations with the 

 neighbouring party on Pulu Bras, it was moved on to Pulu 

 Atas, the most southern — and distant^ — portion of the island 

 ring. The Pulu Atas settlement was, however, only a temporary 

 one, for the silting of the southern portion of the lagoon was 

 taking place so rapidly that in a very few years the colonists 

 were forced to move back to Pulu Selma, in order to have an 

 adequate waterway for their boats. The moving of the Ross 

 settlement to Pulu Selma and the end of Hare's brief reign 

 took place at about the same time, and both were recent 

 events when Darwin came to the islands in the April of 

 1836. 



The final disaster that befell Hare was a Avholesale 



