ROTES - GS IN THE PSCIFIC. * THE author of these volumes left
England in 1837 as an adven- turer to seek his fortune. He says that "blighted hopes and ruined affections," but the context would rather imply the impossi- bility of finding any opening in England, disgusted him with his country, and he determined to go abroad anyhow or anywhere. Making confidents of some staid commercial men who "used the house" where he was stopping in the Borough, one of them got him a passage to Sydney in a convict ship, on the condition of his making himself useful. He had advantages in point of mess, and might have had in some other respects, but, preferriiig. to grapple with difficulties at once, ho worked his way to Sydney as a foremast-man. There he procured several situations ; but not finding the colony sufficiently answering his pecuniary hopes, he started in 1840 as a merchant adventurer. He made several voyages to New Zealand ; he purchased a vessel wrecked on a reef in latitude 21° 41' South and about 174' 14' East longitude, with several thousand. dollars buried in the sand, a half of which he fortunately recovered. He established a trade in biche de user; he employed native divers in a diving speculation for mother- of-pearl shells, with the chance of pearls ; though bitterly opposed to the French at Tahiti and involved in frequent squabbles with them, he took contracts from the Governor; and, in short sailed whithersoever there was business to be done at a probable profit. The field of his operations extended from New Zealand to the Sandwich Islands and California, and from 'Valparaiso to the Phi- lippine Islands and Canton : in the course of his voyages to and fro he touched more or less frequently at the principal groups of islands in the Pacific, and at many places only known by name to professed geographers; but Tahiti was his head-quarters, and after his marriage to the daughter of an Englishman his established home, in spite of the French occupation.
The book is not without interest and novelty in many parts, but it scarcely equals the expectations which the opportunities of the author might fairly raise. Absolute information, indeed, was not to be looked for. Since the days of Cook, accomplished navigators, accompanied by men of philosophical and literary acquirements, have at intervals surveyed the islands of the Pacific, and published the results of their observations on the people and their country, as well as on the more strictly scientific topics it was their busi- ness to investigate. The missionaries have furnished information from another point of view, which, though affected by preconceived and somewhat limited notions, has imparted a good deal of ethno- graphical data and striking pictures of man in a natural state. Still there is ample room for the observer who mingles as one of them- selves with the natives and the strange European characters who are to be found among them. Dignity on one side and fear on the other keeps deserters, runaway convicts, and similar persons, aloof from naval officers; while the missionaries ignore everything re- specting such men and the unregenerate natives, except their evil doings. From want of imagination fully to enter into the scenes before him, this writer does not make the most of what he saw. His account of himself has the interest of a story till he arrives at New South Wales, and then it ceases, to revive only occasionally with some new scene or remarkable adventure. The author looks at matters too much in the trading point of view, without having the variety of knowledge or reach of mind which are necessary to give general interest to the commoner doings of mercantile adven- ture. A large source of the uninteresting nature of much of the book arises from its past character. There are descriptions of the state of New Zealand a dozen years ago, with speculations of the writer on various topics connected with its colonization ; all which are done with. There are much longer stories connected with the French doings at Tahiti and elsewhere, as regards their general behaviour, the sufferings of Pritchard, and the author's opposition to the Gauls and his frequent squabbles with them, ending, how- ever, in nothing. These are exceedingly characteristic of French wantonness and bluster, and may be received as a truthful sketch;
• Ravings in the Pacific, from 1837 to 1840: with a Glance at California. By a Merchant long resident at Tahiti. With four Illustrations printed in colours. In two volumes. Published by Longman and Co.
but they refer to matters that have been discussed, described, and 4lismissed some years since.
The island of Rotumah was a sort of occasional station for our author. Near it was a remarkable object called the " split rock "; a small island split in two by some convulsion of nature, leaving a passage through it. A visit made to this place in com- pany with a man named Emery, who had lived for some years on a neighbouring island to which he had given his name, is one of the most interesting passages in the book, for the picture of won- derful natural phenomena, as well as of the power that man can attain in feats of agility. " We steered for the South side of the island, that we might paddle through the 'split.' As we neared, the weather was so calm, that though no sound- ings could be obtained close to the island, and the side we were rounding rose perpendicularly from the water, the long glassy undulations of the ocean laved the rocky base without creating a ripple. We approached within an oar's length of this immense rock : its grandeur imposed feeling,s of awe, and I could scarcely reconcile to my mind that we were in a safe position; how- ever, I left it to Emery, who was an experienced hand. On gaining the passage, I felt still less at my ease.; it is only of sufficient width to admit of a canoe being paddled through, and is about two hundred feet in length. The two sides of the cleft correspond exactly, and at about one-third from the summit of the openine.' a massive block is firmly wedged ; and from its appear- ance, I am confirmed in the opinion, that in the convulsion that caused this singular plawnomenon, as the fearful chasm was about to close the upper part of the island tottered from its centre and tumbled into the yawning gulf, where it got immoveably jammed and prevented closer union, leaving this passage a memorial of the terrific convulsions that must have troubled these seas, and reminding man of the insignificance of all his works when compared with the grand and mighty operations of nature. The water in the passage appeared of immeasurable depth; and the long, smooth, rolling swell that swept through it, seemed like the convolutions of some monster of the deep. We had only one native with us who had been to the island be- fore ; and he desired us to turn face about, that we might work the canoe through stern first, as the landing-place was on our larboard hand, and the out-rigger being on the larboard side of the canoe, we should get dashed to pieces unless we shifted. I was somewhat startled, and, being no swimmer, did not altogether relish the intelligence ; but the imperturbable coolness with which old Emery set to work caused me to suppress any observation I felt tempted to make. On clearing the passage, prepared as I was for an awkward landing-place, I was not quite prepared for what I saw : the island is a wall of rock shooting upwards from four hundred to six hundred feet high, and curving like a horse-shoe, the South-eastern termination of the curve being split and riven into a thousand pinnacles and rocky needles. The passage we came through is exactly in the centre of the crescent ; but in- stead of finding the sea placid in the hollow,' as it was outside, it was tumbling about, foaming and seething like a boiling cauldron, roaring and dashine.' up the rocks as if trying to overleap the opposing barrier, and in its retreat forming such eddies that I momentarily expected to be shivered like the rocks around us. The whole swell of the ocean sets into this hollow,' and even if there is no breeze, the contracting points of the curve confine the rolling billows, which in their recoil create this dancing turmoil. "Well was it for us that the natives from W€a had paddled into the hol- low before us, as they were accustomed to the island, and to land on its steep and slippery sides. The way they managed was admirable. They balanced their canoes so close to the precipitous rock, that the lashing surge broke just under their bows and went roaring a hundred feet above them. Wondering what they were going to do, we noticed two of them plunge into the crest of a gigantic roller, and when it had spent itself and I expected to .see their mangled remains swept back in its rushing retreat, the men were standing on the rocks high over head, smiling and nodding to us. One of them had a long rope coiled round his waist, and he threw the end of it down to us : Emery gave it to me, and told me, when the next swell hove us nearly on a level with the men, to leap with all my might towards them. My amaze- ment at this cool request was too great for utterance, but somehow I did as I was desired. Watching the favourable moment, I gave a spring, and the natives who held the rope seconding the impetus, jerked me alongside them like a fish out of water ; Emery followed immediately after, aided in the same way. The man with us who had already visited the island threw himself overboard, and in a few minutes he also had secured a footing, drip- ping like a water-sprite. The two left in the canoe lost their presence of mind, and would infallibly have been lost, had not the natives from Wi7a reassured them and directed them how to act.
"There is a little soil on the summit or wall-like ridge of the island yield- ing a growth of coarse grass and a peculiar variety of scrub. The natives have likewise succeeded in rearing a few cocoa-nut-trees. The ascent to a novice is rather perilous, and made me wink : you have to wind your way up laterally, and at one point you have to pass round the salient projection of a bald rock where the footing is shelving and not fourteen inches broad, the rock overhead bulging forward, while below you have a sheer fall be- tween two hundred and three hundred feet in depth. I was for giving it -up, when Emery took the lead, telling me it was the only dangerous spot : but then, he was barefooted, and for years had been habituated M go so ; the 'tenderness of my feet would not allow me to dispense with shoes, and the slippery soles made my case more perilous : false shame prevented my re- treating, but at the time I could not help considering that the object to be obtained was scarcely worth the risk. When I had sidled half way across this very awkward pass, my arms extended and fingers stretched out ner- vously clutching at any little unevenness of surface, and whilst I was hesi- tating where next to put my foot, groping in vain for seine fissure into which I might thrust my fingers or for some root that I might grasp, I caught sight of the frightful descent, my head swam, and I was turning sick. At this moment of imminent risk, a native daringly swayed himself outside me, striking me smartly on the back as he passed; this recalled any senses, and I arrived in safety on firmer footing again. The rapidity with which this bold action was performed is surprising : for a moment the man's body must have been off the centre of gravity, and I believe the poor fellow en- dangered his life to inspire me with confidence, for had I slipped when he was passing me he would have been involved in certain destruction."
Much of the diving took place at the Bow Island of Cook, or in its vicinity. This is the account of the process.
"On arriving at a reef or knoll, the boat was secured by its painter to a projecting branch, and the divers proceeded to dive from it in all directions; and as they brought up the shells so they threw them into the shallow water on the knoll, until the shells became scarce, or they became tired and wanted to pull to another station. Shell-fish of various descriptions are attached to and wedged in the coral branches, apparently having grown with their growth. On a still calm day you may see to the bottom at ten or twelve fathoms, and the shell-fish when feeding reflect tints of the most brilliant and beautiful hue ; and fish of every conceivable form and colour may be seen sporting in the interstices of the coral branches. "It is a curious sight to watch the divers : with scarcely a movement they will dart to the bottom like an arrow, examine beneath every protruding rock, and on continuing their investigations, by a simple movement of the arm will propel themselves horizontally through the water, and this at the depth of seven and eight fathoms. I timed several by the watch; and the longest period I knew any of them to keep beneath the water was a minute and a quarter, and there were only two who accomplished this feat. One of them from his great skill was nicknamed by his companions the Ofai (stone). Rather less than a minute was the usual duration. In fine wea- ther they can see the shells, when, if the water is deep, they dive at an angle for them; and as the shells adhere firmly to the coral by strong beards, it requires no little force to detach them. I was astonished on one occasion at witnessing a diver after one or two ineffectual attempts to tear away a large oyster sink his legs beneath him, and, getting a purchase With his feet against the coral, use both his hands and fairly drag it off. When they dive in very deep water, they complain of pains in the ears, and they sometimes come up with their noses bleeding; but it is rarely that you can get them to attempt such diving, as, let the shells be ever so abundant, they will come up and swear there are none : the exertion from the great pres- sure is too painfully distressing. It has frequently happened, after a set of worn-out divers have sworn that no more shells could be obtained, that a fresh set has come and procured from fifty to sixty tons without difficulty."
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