MURDERS BY POLYNESIANS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1333, 6 November 1872, Page 2

MURDERS BY POLYNESIANS.

[FIJI TIMES.] The fo^pwiflg particulars" of the murder of three of the : ship's company of the schooner Dancing Wave, at the Line Islands, are given in the declaration of the master of the vesselj Captain Brown : — "I, Thomas Stubb Brown, do solemnly ' declare- to the facts of the case of the Jba* of three men belonging to the jpohooner' r Dancing Wave, on a trading "voyage to the Line Islands.. The vessel came to air anchor on Monday, the 19th August, at •■«> the Island of Nanouti or Sydenham's, Islands, Qn the 20th, at .7 a.m., ; the " i boat went on shore— -at this time the -^ canoes were alongside from the shore. T was trading with thenv for cocoanutsj &c. ; At about 11 a.m. we found that the men were stealing everything on the deck I One of the crew caught a native stealing the yams, and he > tried; to. I make him put them back, when he ) , up Jist and struck the seaman in the face, knocking him down. I, 1 then. saw > that the natives meant mischief,, so I took' , what precaution I could, and sent the^' seamen to take their knives and cuttE*- ' canoes adrift, as J knes thej -would jump ' overboard after them. We cleared the - ship of nine canoes out of 18, so then 1 o

saw that things wore quiet. Some of them stopped till 4p. m. I could not see anything of the boat coming off, and became anxious aboat her, being very careful not to give the natives any cause to go and retaliate on the boat. No signs of the boat at 6 p.m. One native staying on board* He spoke English. On the 21st, at 10 a.m.. canoes came off. I told the native on board to go on Bhore and bring off tho men dead or alive, and I ■would pay him "well for it. The canoes came alongside. I told him to hsk what had become of the boat. He quietly told me that the interpreter had found her brother, so I told him to go on shore and bring them off. About two hours after he had gone a native on board told mo that this native had told me lies. The nativo in the canoe said all the white men were killed. So I waited till noon ou the 22nd ; then I weighed anchor and proceeded to the Bouth end, where white traders were living. On the 27th George Lorimer came alongside, and told me that the white men in the boat were killed. The Solomon Island boy and the Laucalau woman were all right, and if I would wait for two days he would bring them off. On the 30th, I had received the boy and woman, two revolvers, and boat. I then sailed for Fiji direct. " Killed. — Bartholomew Robinson, A.8., native of Shetland Island ; James Lustin, A.8., native of Middlesex, England ; and M. Hazlett, 5.0., native of Melbourne, Victoria. " Saved.— Laucalau woman, as inter* preter, and Solomon Island boy, boat crew." .