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CHAPTER XV. 



NEW ZEALAND. — FRIENDLY AND FIJI ISLANDS. 



The John Wesley sailed from Sydney on the 15th June, 1855, 

 and arrived at Tonga on the 26th of that month, after a delay of 

 about a week at Auckland. Being the winter season the voyage 

 was rough and disagreeable. Dr. Harvey's companions on 

 board were Mr. Thomas, tbe Wesleyan missionary, and one of 

 his fellow-labourers ; and the estimate he formed of these pious 

 and devoted men caused him to search into the history of their 

 mission work, and to witness with the warmest interest its 

 wonderful results. There is little to be taken from what he 

 calls " the mere tantalizing scrap of a tour " that comprised his 

 " acquaintance with New Zealand," which, like the shadowy 

 island of Brazil in the legend of the Mil town fisherman, had 

 been his " phantom of pleasure seen distant in youth." 



" About breakfast-time," he writes, " we passed ' The Poor 

 Knights,' a number of high, rocky, and craggy islets, poor enough 

 in all conscience, and many similar ones were passed in the 

 course of the day. The whole scene was very wild and dreary, 

 and I only ran up on deck occasionally, and then down shiver- 

 ing to my nest to get warm again. All the day we were 

 running close-hauled against a strong southerly wind. The 

 same bleak and rugged character, as far as we could see, marked 

 the coast, and it looked anything but inviting to a settler. In 

 the afternoon we passed a large island called the ' Great 

 Barrier,' and we were then supposed to be at the mouth of the 

 ' Thames,' but it was rather a very wide arm of the sea, forming a 

 deep bay, that we entered. Heavy squalls, accompanied with 

 rain and forked lightning, proved a clearing up of the weather. 

 It was dark when we anchored in good shelter about ten miles 



