ELLICE'S AND KINGS MILL GROUP. 65 



treatment of each other exhibited a great want of feeling, and in 

 many instances, passions and propensities indicative of the lowest 

 state of barbarism. Their young girls were offered to be disposed of, 

 by their fathers and brothers, alongside the ship, openly, and without 

 concealment ; and to drive a bargain for them, was one of the prin- 

 cipal objects of their visits to the ship. 



Among their weapons, they have a short spear, which is armed 

 with half a dozen barbs from the tail of the raja or stingray, which is 

 supposed to prove mortal, if broken off in the wound. They have 

 also a club, about four feet long, made from the cocoanut-wood, 

 which is pointed at each end ; it is used for warding off a spear, to 

 make a thrust, or wielded as a club. 



In the use of tobacco, they are truly disgusting, for they eat it and 

 swallow it, with a zest and pleasure indescribable. Their whole 

 mind seems bent upon obtaining this luxury, and consequently it will 

 command their most valuable articles. 



They are, to all appearance, a lawless race, and no sort of govern- 

 ment seems to control them ; all seize upon whatever property they 

 can, and, as has been before mentioned, the very chiefs themselves 

 were subject to the same treatment that they observed towards our 

 party ; the greatest villains and bullies among them seemed to have 

 the most control ; while the chiefs had little more than nominal autho- 

 rity, and if they had any privileges, they did not seem to extend 

 beyond their small enclosures. 



There is neither wood nor water to be obtained at this island, and 

 no inducement to visit it, except to trade for a few cocoa-nuts and 

 curiosities. 



Good whaling-ground exists in the vicinity, and our whalemen are 

 in the habit of cruising in this neighbourhood : those who visit these 

 wretches ought to keep a constant guard against treachery, for their 

 numbers are large, and they are prone to mischief. All intercourse 

 with them* should, therefore, be conducted with great caution, espe- 

 cially in ships weakly manned. 



It is to be hoped that the punishment inflicted on Utiroa for the 

 murder of Anderson will be long remembered, and prove a salutary 

 lesson to the numerous and thickly-peopled towns of Taputeouea, or 

 Drummond's Island. 



On the same evening, (the 9th,) they weighed anchor, and on the 

 next day made Bishop's or Sydenham Island, which they surveyed 

 the following day. 



VOL. V. 17 



