EASTWARD HO!—TONGA AND FIJI.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 142, 26 June 1880, Page 3

EASTWARD HO!—TONGA AND FIJI.

I "Regular Monthly Communication j with tho Fiji ami Friendly Islands, j The A.S.N/. Company's steamship Gunga I will b:i despatched on or about Mondav, 1 10 th May, for Lcvukaj Fiji, taking j passengers and cargo for transhipment j by the company's branch steamers Tongntabn and Hnpaai." Thus runs j the latest advertisement of the senior : steam company of the Australia's. For I some years past the company, figuratively speaking, have been poking their iron noses into Fijian waters, and now thoy j are actually invading the coral - girt I lagoons of Tongatabn Tonga the I Sacred—and skirling their steam pipes I among the romantic isles of Hapaa'i, as ifto'Mhj manor born." What a mare I incognita to the voyager in search of | picas*!--: or health! and what a terra ! incognita to the student of ethnology. ■ Some little time ago and the company J might have been compared to a'huge ojtopui drift ug helplessly upon a very I Chines; sea of difficulties, and lo I here •we .find it more lively than ever, o.xleudi rug its tentaculio to the uttermost isles of tho sea. We are fond of the sea. in fact ... never were on tho dull tame shore i liut we 1. v.-il the deeji sea more and uioro: j and what perhaps is more to the point, the deep blue of the Pacific ami (hi: soft beauty of its islands are pretty well familiar to us. We have learned tos:ngtho"S(nbal Mater" anil to take a purf in '''Three Blind Mice' in pure Tongiui. Wo can eonk pulosanii with the host maitre in T'polu ; join in iiieke at the royal city of Ban, ami maintain toe dignify ami reputation of a tim.ltong from Marshall Group to far.off Bonabi." We have scaled the hills and slept in the devil-houses of N.imosi, and roamed tho rpefs and swam the pools near to where the fair Ncwha ('lied, "Toiquil, follow me, ami fearless follow;'" Thoa plunged at once iato the ocean's liolbw. We have sweltered with gun or fishspear in hand beneath the noontide sun, ami danced hi forest glades beneath the pah- rays of the moon. Bnstn I We have heard the chimes at midnisjlit—the chimes, of soft voices and the clear ringing lali. Our last cruise was commenced in tho good ship Gunga, under the command of Captain Saunders, one of the most agreeable and careful seamen south of the equator; and a rough outline of whero we went end what wn saw may prove of use and interest to those who, sick of the of brick and moilar. are able to cry Eastward ho ! and he oil' for an night weeks' cruise to the Fiji and Friendly Islands. Wn left the wharf, formerly known as Campbell's, nbout four in the afternoon, steamed down the harbour, and made a fair otiing Bn the monarch of tho day went down. The wind was southerly and the sea comparatively smooth, so that we shook into our places comfortably. Besides ourselves, there were fifteen or twenty passengers on board three or four planters, a missionary, a trader or two, one or two officials, a Fiji pilot; a few young gentlemen in search of employment, a few others in search of health, and a good looking young lady who had recently been called to the bar. The pilot, a jolly old salt, who possessed a fund of information about the South Sea and all those dwelling 'therein, confided to us the interesting fuct that a " new barmaid " went to Fiji by every mail steamer, and further, that as they nil get married immediately, one or two kotclkeepcrs had filed their schedules. and among the causes of insolvency had set down " importing barmaids." Our course for the first few days, according to " flic man at tho wheel," to whom we clandestinely spoke, was about no'-nor'-oast, so as to carry us between Howe's Island and tho Elizabeth Reef. After that we went a little more easterly, so an to call at Norfolk Island, whore three of our passougnrs intended lauding,. Wo sighted a whale or two, ono close to us, and the others at some distance. My friend, the pilot, pronounced tho latter to be sperm whale, in coniequouco of the poculiar manner in .which they.''blqw." Tills led mo'into a reverie 'ris'lb whether the naturo of some men could V" .predicated from their peculiar mauner in' the like rospoot, and in consequence I lost an interesting story from my friend con« corning a " ntjicty-barrel bull," that was oncu taken till "Howe's Island, in ilia younger days, so full of harpoons, InnooH, and other "irons," that the compasses of tho ship were affected us,ho was lowed (llplimlac, By a calculation subsequently

%|de;thc "younger days" of Captain R. must have waued only a little over three hundred years ngo. As we progressed the sen birds (1 creased and Vie flying fish increased. Then wo saw a "boatswain bird " and iijlnod.of swift-winged petrels chasing a school "of honito. By-and-hvt; tho ery,'• Laud-ho'." wa3 heard, !nnd presently the precipitous clilfs of piiillip Tsland, and a little later, the outline of Norfolk Island was seen by every one on board. Phillip Island lies south of Norfolk Island about eight miles, and appeal's to bo the homo of myriads of seabirds only, though report saveth there is a very rare, in fact, almost, extinct, bird found upon it, viz., a nocturnal parrot. : Wo passed soma distance from this lonely peak of a submarine mountain, so "that we could hardly see the surf foaming nbout its rocky base, and went on' till wo woro abreast of the stone jetty running out from the old felon settlement of Norfolk Island. Our anchor bad hardly touched bottom in seventeen fathoms of water before whaleboats were' seen coming off, and in less than ton minutes wo had been introduced to, anil shaken hands with, some two dozen,.veritable descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty. Fletcher and Christian seemed to be the predominating nanus. They veere all stalwart looking, well-bearded fellows, but carrying in the shape of their heads strong indications of their Tahitian descent. The day was beautifully fine and the sea inviting, so that we needed little persuasion from the " magistrate," a dignitary whose judicial weight wo computed at eighteen stone, to " come on shore and look round. Our passengers thereon divided into the "go's" and the "no go's.'' The latter party was confined to a small but select few living behind green or blue spectacles, or whose sense of weakness in the knees led them to doubt the results' of an attempt to clamber down the side ladder and. make a bold dive into the bottom of a lively whale boat: • The ever agreeable Captain Saunders found for those who staid, and ere We adventurers left the ship some of the most exquisitely marked and otherwise good-looking fish we ever saw were going up the side at a rapid rate. "Stern all," said the magistrate as tbo current, which runs strong here, swept us from the side ladder past.the graceful quarter of the Gunga. "Starboard oars" —"Together," and away wo went, straight for the. stone jetty or breakwater. As a rule, the purf rolls in hero so that landing is difficult, sometimes impossible, and always a little exciting. The jetty, as we neared it, became occupied by large and small Pitcaimcrs all men or boys—and all, as it struck us, lounging with a " got no work to do-oo-oo" aspect, that not oven the momentary excitement of our visit could dissipate. In rolled the swell, "Easy pulling," gasped our friendly fat functionary at the stern oar. In rolled swell number twi. ''Standby." Now we are in for it, said a jovial planter, "(live way," roared the steersman. Vp we went upon the erest of the n-a; along wu Mew for a couple of hundred yards with the : spced of an express train. Nearer every second do we get to the boulders like shinglo on the bench.' Stma]|, by i Jove 1 Hut no, our spepd culminate*, shirks down, and we touch the shore, where Rentes of ready bands grasp our gunwale.', without, shock or concussion of the slightest force. To reach terra firma was, as novelists say, but '•the work of a moment:" but the further introductions to leading l'itcairners occupieil at least ten more. Everyone of til.",, interesting people seemed bursting with hospitality. Each one wanted us to accompany us to his house and " have a drink of milk," so that we really wished wo were birds, in order, as Sir Boric Roche would say, that wo could be in two places at once. How this difficulty was got over will be subsequently seen. (To be continued.)