EASTWARD HO:—TONGA AND FIJI.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 143, 3 July 1880, Page 3

EASTWARD HO:—TONGA AND FIJI.

'CoNTlSl'Kli FIIOM LAST WEEK.) Vi e grtt over this difficulty liy saying • We thought our lirsl visit should lie tlli.shop Sulwyn. This suggestion, how ever, was howled over by a statenieii on the part of our commanding ollicei. I Captain Saunders, that the bishop's place i i was a •"•long way. inland," and that the lGimga.would.be off in an hour. Wo \ UlMl said that the venerable old patriarch, ; j Mr. NoUU«,must ho the (list to whom our ■ j respects Were paid. This resolution was j carried noin. con., ami oT we trooped, the magistrate and Captain Saunders, in virtue I of t heir superior authority leading t ho wii v. The inissionary was linked with the wiii j of the patriarch. A worth- man, named j Robinson—-who, in his own proper parson, c I'ined the oliiee of clerk of the court, island accountant, foreign correspondent,! and an agricultural society—fell to lot, , and a most agreeable, intelligent, and. warin-hearted fellow we found him. Our walk lay through (be now ruined settlement of a by-gone and melancholy period of our colonial history. We had read much of Norfolk Island," and always regarded it as the most awful hell on earth ever created by hrutal laws and their still in ire hrutal administration. Imagination had, however, failed us, It needed an actual visit to the spot, a ramhle about j the crumbling walls, inner and outer gaol' jj'iinln, tic siiiitarv colls, and the embrasured iviill - enclosed residence of the governor, the resident olticers, and soldiery, to realize the former horrors' |of this naturally lively spot. Prisoners I were evidently ruled there by terror and I brute fun e of the st-ruol character, j This tendency was w -II manifesto-! in I the •'ornaments" forming snpporti rs j trance to the htrg, r ga . . whit li is still been lii..t the moment these infernal gates were s-.-.-n, much less entered. The houses, formerly the quarters of military olliaurs, were built upon what wu may call the " Macqnarrie " pattern, Gilrilells here and then-, though nmv ov p r . j igrowu with wild shrubs and trees, gave i-igivs of the efforts made by officers'] familips fci ame!io,-.,te the loneliness of their lot while stationed at this living : grave. But the general fifle."t of the whole place is that <if depression, whi.-h not, even the si'dit of an exquisitely i ii-lnnn chureli. iinndsofun reading-desk, • I and a niemorial window can remove. I l,ea"ing these ruins, «•-■ were eon- j ducted to the dwelling nf Mr. Xol.bs. who. liiou-b confine,l (o hisjied bv rheiinntism, kindlr L r 'ive ns an interview and inirolu-ed ns to his wife and ,laue-ht"rs. Afl i brief and olensant, chat with the ni"i!.b",-s of this int."restincr familv. we wonded ear wav seaward a"iin. callinc at s'---il homes en rani,,. Rv this tin," | tii" fail-pi- portion nf th ■ island-ro had I must "red in force, and cverv cottage in Ih-plnee was thrown ■>: to ns. The : i-i -\.irable Caplain Saunders, however. d cl-ir-'l t-bat time wis nn so we were j oclle-l t . makolri.ctv adieiix and folMow our Lnder. rialfth-pnpnlation nc-

,-.-,.,.aui-d us to Hi-bonis. Tim women load-l us M-'th i,ewlv-..rath"r.»l llow.-i-s. and ih'ii. after a 'n.-ieral hand-shaking, and amid |1 heci-s of the men. we nudiod iiil-. tie-••brine "on .ore, and in hall'an hour were steaming nwai»\ at the rata nf ten knots an hour, for h'andavn. the most 500 th,,,-,, island in f'iji.— Town and I 'ountry .lonrnal. (Tutu: msTisrKiO