220 LETTER OF THE ADMIRAL'S SECRETARY. 
way to land is to come to the "back of the 
rollers in a ship's boat; a whale-boat then 
comes off, you get into her, and she imme- 
diately gets ready to obey the signal of a 
man who stands upon a rock on shore, and 
directly he waves his hat, the favourable 
moment has arrived, the men give way, and 
with wonderful rapidity the boat is borne on 
the top of the wave to the shore. They are 
very skilful, and in a heavy surf will gene- 
rally land you dry. 
" Mr. George Hunn Nobbs, their teacher 
or pastor, met us at the landing-place, and 
we at once ascended the cliffs by a steep 
winding path to a plantation of cocoa-trees, 
called the market-place, as all trade is carried 
on at this spot. Here the islanders met us 
and gave us a hearty welcome. Generally 
all the inhabitants assemble here to welcome 
the officers of a man-of-war ; but as it was 
Sunday and early, they had not arrived. We 
continued our way by a pretty path winding 
through the trees to the town, meeting here 
and there detachments coming towards us. 
These all followed in our wake ; and by the 
time we reached .Mr. Nobbs's cottage, which 
