CRUISE OF H.M.S. DART. Excitino Adventures.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 24, 17 November 1883, Page 2

CRUISE OF H.M.S. DART. Excitino Adventures.

On 7th November H.M.S. Dart, LieutCommander Moore, returned to Sydney harbour, after an extensive cruise among the South Sea Islands. From a diary kept by one of the officers the following interesting particulars are obtained :—": — " The Dart left Sydney on April 21 last, and, after a passage that was not marked by any event of importance, reached Selwyn Bay, Ugi, on May 6. It was there ascertained that H.M.S. Lark had left the week before for Brisbane with the crew of the American barque Illie, which was wrecked at Guadalcanal*. After coaling, the Dart got under way again on the 12th May, and proceeded to Suva, but through the bobstay carrying away, she ran back to her anchorage until repairs were effected. On the following day a fresh start was made, and she arrived at Suva on the 27th May, the Nelson coming into the same port two days following. The first two weeks of June were spent in visiting Fiji On the 14th the Dart was ordered to proceed to the New Hebrides, and she arrived at Havannah Harbour on the 18th. The Nolsonj which reached the same place on the 22nd, had previously visited the islands of Tanna and Erromanga, of the same to up. The French war vessels, Bruat and D'Estrees, reached the port on the 23rd and

£**" respectively. Tho Dart remained here till tt.c 2olh, when she sailed for Vila Harbour, -..wc.o .liv .mivvd thu h.une i\ny and did a good deal of surveying. On the 2Sth she got orders 1o visit all the islands of the Now Hebrides Croup, the Solomon Group, Mioko and Now Biitain. The D.irt arrived at Api on the Slst July* Between .">0 and 6"0 native* weio seen on the beach, and nine out of every ten of thosehad a rille in his hntuK Mr Fraser, the missionaiy, and a man named Peter Callan, visited the ship, and intormed the captain th.it tl>o muster of a Übo.ir vessel, named the Borough Belle, had been shot by the natives near Dip Point. Ambrym, and had been buried oil Api. The name of the deceased was Bell-in, -md he had the reputation of heinu an exceptionally honest man. The cause of the murder was said to be revenue for people said to have been stolen from the ieland by a three-masted schooner named the L^ 'io. The most strict inquiiicrf were instituted with regard to the allegations as to kidnapping, and the result \howod that they had no foundation whatever. Se\eral other vessels were fired at when piling Dip Point after tho muuler of Captain Belbin, and it was thereupon resolved to give the natives a lesson. Accordingly an expedition was organised, and Mr Craig, tho missionary, volunteered to accompany the party, with two natives as guides. It was resolved to land in a bay at night, and niaich through tho bush to Ballab, the village inhabited by the murderers, a milo and three quarters iiom Mr Craigs house, so as to take them in tho rear by surprise. It v as hoped it mi -,'ht be possible to surround them m their sleep, and disarm them, and execute the chief and one or two others iv an example. The captain landed in charge of the party, with Lieutenant DawXon, <he hoaisw.iin, and 20 rifles, two orderly seamen -with pikes for pig-sticking, and two stokeus earning ammunition. The doctor, Lieutenant Pearson, and others regained in the boats. They left at 1 1.:;0 inn. on the sth, in the two whalers, a-'nd landed at about 12.30. One oinecr Ind oideis if tho boats were net in sight by U p.m. to go round in the steam cutter and see if lie could be of any assist ance. The Fieneh war steamer Bruat just arrived as he left the .ship. In the engagement which endued, Mr Mincham and Parker, an able seaman, were Avounded. The former was shot with a charge of slugs in the right arm and the abdomen, and Parker in "the lett bide with a Snider bullet. They had reached the Ballab tenitory about daylight, after a long walk of about three liom-s through the bush. It was very dark, and the guule= had lost the path several times. The Ballab men under&tood the science of hu^h-tighting much better than hid been expected, and w ere all under cover, in trees and behind rocks, so that the men from the Dart coul< I >. arely get a shot at them. Two villages and part of a third were burned, eight ot the natives were killed, and all the huts were searched, but no arms or ammunition as ere found. Parker was shot while searching ono of the huts. The French war steamer Bruat came into the harbour shortly afterwards, and the commander of her at once sent his doctor on board the Dart to see if he could render any assistance, and also ottered to take the wounded men on to the hospital at Noumea. Both doctors concurred in the view that it ■was of no u.se to remove Parker, as there was no prospect whatever of his recovering; but agreed that Mr Mincham might get better again, so th,>t the latter was f-ent on board the Bruat, which at once (2 p.m. August 5) set tail for the capital of the French colony. Pai kur died on the 7th, and was buried the .same clay, his body being accorded the honouis usual on such occasions.

Of this event the diary records as follow a : — " Mr Craig havinir procured guides yesterday (August 1 1 ) who said they had been up to the crater, the doctor and I decided to go up with him and two of our men, bo as to be the tfr-t white men to visit it. Next moniiti^, havener got three native guides, one of whom, Tom Ambry in, npeaks English \\ell> we started oIF. Wo walked through a countiy for about a mile that astonished me ; both «ide^ of tlie patli were palisades of bamboo, enclosing plantations of yams, taro, or bananas. We emerged on the black sandy bench to a large open bay, east of McLeod l'oint, called S.E. Bay. We found a large ravine running up from the centre to the bay. The sides of the ravine were about 100 feet high, and lined with dense bush, and at about a mile from the beach it was not more than 100 yards in width. The declivity was very gradual, and wo found ourselves ascending almost imperceptibly. About a mile and a hall from the ravine, we \\ ere joined by a paifcy of natives from a bush village. They -iccompanicd us for a mile or so, but fell oil gradually until we were left with 10 natives of all descriptions. About 9 p.m. we came on some water, which the natives informed us was the la*>t wu -.hould see ; so we called a halt, and proceeded to cook our dinner. We turned out at daylight on the following morning (August 13th), and after a light breakfast of cocoa and biscuit proceeded on our way rejoicing at 6.15 a.m. We kept the ravine till about 8.30, and were doing a good thite miles an hour, though the dctovri through the bush were more frequent, andtheiavine was no longer the beautiful caniaee diive we had walked up last night. About half-past 8 the ravine turned off about W.S.W., the banks being then nearly ."00 feet high, the width generally about 70 feet, and all vegetation but tree-feins and coarse having ceased. We walked about an hour in this direction (generally in the bush, as the peipendicular parts were too frequent fur u.b to keep long in the ravine itself) before the vegetation ceased entirely ; and the ravine, now reduced to a mere watercourse, turned to the north-westward again. Our guide informed us that it was the road to Kanon,, and took us to the N.E., up a big cinder he ip about 1,500 feet high. It was a hard climb, as one slipped back nearly as much a^ one went forwaid, and we soon got to the top of it, expecting to see the crater clo^e U'ider it. When wo were all on the ridge (which was a good deal sharper than a purser's knife) we looked round for the crater, but could see nothing but a high hilJ about a mile N.E. and 2,000 feet above us, and a &ea of dust-heaps, similar to the one we were on, all aroundus. Our guido evidently thought they had done all that could be required of them, and seemed very proud of their work. However, this hardly satisfied us, so we asked them where the bif* fire was, and wore told on top of the hill to our right. They positively refused to go further. Tom informed me : ' Suppo-o you go more far, you finish ; you no come back j you die ; devil he stop along big fellow fire !' The doctor asked if any one had ever been more far, and being told ' ]S T o man he go more far,' said 'All right, I go," and w© commenced unpacking the natives and lashing Ile gear on ourselves. When they saw this, the natives became ashamed of themselves, and oflered to come with us after all. They agreed to take us where we could .see the ciater, and in about ten minutes brought us in sight of it. It is a wonderful sight — a great bed of consolidated lava, covered about three feet deep in seoiia? and \olranic sand, extending from three to four miles east and wesi, and two miles noith and wcfefc. To the westward

it is bounded by a range of low cinder heaps rising to a summit about 1,000 feet above us, which appears to bo an extended crater. To the north yard, was a small active crater, and behind that again the rounded summit I mentioned before. •It appeared to be about 1,500 feet above the crater, and is evidently the summit of the island. The cinder heaps grow smaller from east round to south, where they rise in the high hill where the natives wanted to leuvo us. Wo a\ out on to tho small active crater, which was about half a mile oast of us We sot to the bottom of the ridge all riu'ht. when the natives began to get tightened again, and we could hardly persuade thorn to go up. However, after wo had been standing on tho edgo for some minutes, they vontuiod to come up and look in. Tho volcano was not partirulrly active when w o saw it. The crater _is circular, and about a quarter of a milo in diameter, ' the noilhom edge being about 50 feet hiirher than tho southern one. The most active part was right under tho northern edge, and about SO!) feet down. This forms another Mnall crater, about 50 yards in diameter, and going down at tho side. The sides of this small hole were lined with sulphur. There was nono to bo seen anywhere else." The paity returned on board the Dart by 10 o'clock, but after luncheon Lieutenant Beresford went up to the summit of a peak, from which ho was able to get bearings of nearly every island in the group. On" the ISth August the JXirfc proceeded to Ehpiritu Santo to make inquiries about tho Isabel massaero, bub returned to Craig Cove on September 14, and found that Mr Craig was all right. She next visited the Solomon Islands, and then made inquiries with retcicnce to the reported murder of the Government agent, the mato, the recruiter, and three natives of tho Ldvinia at a place aoout three miles north of the Foreland, Api. She proceeded there and landed a party on September 13. If.M.S. Diamond, arriving on th.it day, took charge of the proceedings, Captain Dale sending a message to tho chiefs of the village, requesting that the muulercrs bhould be given up. This request having been refused, a party of men, numbciiny 90, w ere landed from tho two voxels, under tho command ot Lieutenant Moore, to attack the Milage ot jMcUacln, ii\e miles inland. On arrival at tho \ lllago, it was found that the natives had elleclud their escape to the bu-jh, bo that it was useless attempting to follow them. Fivo villages and plantations were burned down, and the expedition returned tho following morning to their vessels. On tho 27th September the Dart was despatched to investigate tho murder of a trader named E. McTCwan, on tho .south coast of Api, by tho natives. No steps wore taken, as tho matter was doubtful. On October 5 she sailed for Ugi, Solomon Islands, whore she obtained a supply of coal, and sailed on the l*2th for Treasury Island, reaching theie on the 14th. She hero communicated with H.M.S. Lark, and on the 2Jth sailed for Sydney.