January 1st. 1848.-Sailed from Raiatea for Tahiti. On this passage we experienced easterly winds to N.E.b.E., with a heavy swell from the northward and eastward, with heavy squalls, and rain: on the 2nd we fetched up between Sir C. Saunders, and Eimeo Islands, and continued beating round the north end of Eimeo, till the morning of the 5th, when we anchored in Papietee Harbour. Here we remained till the 4th of February, when we weighed for Pitcairns Island, and Valparaiso.

Melville gives the following amusing account of the pilot of Papietee:"Even with a competent pilot, Papietee Bay is considered a ticklish one to enter. Formed by a bold sweep of the shore, it is protected seaward by the coral reef, upon which the rollers break with great violence. After stretching across the bay, the barrier extends on to Point Venus, (the most northerly point of the island, and so called from Cook's observatory being placed there during his first visit,) which point is in the district of Matavai eight or nine miles distant. Here there is an opening, by which ships enter, and glide down the smooth deep canal between the reef and the shore to the harbour. But, by seamen generally, the leeward entrance is preferred, as the wind is extremely variable inside the reef. This latter entrance is a break in the barrier directly facing the bay and village of Papietee. It is very narrow; and from the baffling winds, currents, and sunken rocks, ships now and then grate their keels against the coral.

NO. 11.-VOL. XVII,

3 с

"But the mate was not to be daunted; so stationing what men he had at the braces, he sprang upon the bulwark, and bidding every body keep wide awake, ordered the helm up. In a few moments we were running in. Being towards noon, the wind was fast leaving us, and by the time the breakers were roaring on either hand little more than steerage-way was left. But on we glided, smoothly and deftly; avoiding the green darkling objects here and three strewn in our path: Jermin occasionally looking down in the water, and then about him with the utmost calmness, and not a word spoken. Just fanned along thus, it was not many minutes 'ere we were past all danger, and floated into the placid basin within. This was the cleverest specimen of his seamanship that he ever gave us.

"As we held on toward the frigate and shipping, a canoe coming out from among them approached. In it were a boy and an old man, both islanders; the former nearly naked, and the latter dressed in an old naval frock coat. Both were paddling with might and main; the old man once in a while tearing his paddle out of the water; and after rapping his companion over the head both fell to with fresh vigour. As they came within hail, the old fellow springing on his feet, and flourishing his paddle, cut some of the queerest of capers, all the while jabbering something at first which we could not understand. Presently we made out the following:

"Ah! you pemi, ah! you come! What for you come?—You be fine for no come pilot.-I say, you hear?—I say, you ita maitai (no good).-You hear?-You no pilot:—yes, you d- me, you no pilot 't all;-I d― you, you hear?'

"This tirade, which shewed plainly that whatever the profane old rascal was at, he was in right good earnest, produced peals of laughter in the ship. Upon which he seemed to get beside himself; and the boy, who, with suspended paddle, was staring about him, received a sound box over the head, which set him to work in a twinkling, and brought the canoe quite near. The orator now opening afresh, it turned out that his vehement rhetoric was all addressed to the mate, still standing conspicuously on the bulwark.

But Jermin was in no humour to be trifled with, so with a sailor's blessing he ordered him off. The old fellow then flew into a regular frenzy, cursing and swearing worse than any civilized being I ever heard.

"You sabbee me? he shouted. You know me, ah?-Well, me Jim, me pilot-been pilot now long time.'

"Ay,' cried Jermin, quite surprised, as indeed we all were, "you are the pilot then, you old pagan,—why didn't you come off before this?'

"Ah! me sabbee,-me know you piratee (pirate).-See you long time, but no me come-I sabbee you-you ita maitai nuee (superlatively bad).'

"Paddle away with you,' roared Jermin in a rage; be off, or I'll dart a harpoon at ye!'

1849.] PAPIETEE HARBOUR AND PITCAIRNS ISLAND.

569

"But instead of obeying the order, Jim, seizing his paddle, darted his canoe right up to the gangway, and in two bounds stood on the deck. Pulling a greasy silk handkerchief still lower over his brow, and improving the sit of his frock coat with a vigourous jerk, he then strode up to the mate, and in a more flowery style than ever, gave him to understand that the redoubtable Jim' himself was before him; that the ship was his until the anchor was down; and he should like to hear what any one had to say to it.

"As there seemed little doubt that he was all he claimed to be, the Julia was at last surrendered.

"Our gentleman now proceeded to bring us to an anchor, jumping up between the knight-heads, and bawling out 'Luff! luff! keepy off! keepy off!' and insisting upon each time being respectfully responded to by the man at the helm. At this time our steerage-way was almost gone; and yet in giving his orders the passionate old man made as much fuss as a white squall aboard the Flying Dutchman.

"Jim turned out to be the regular pilot of the harbour, a post be it known, of no small profit; and in his eyes, at least, invested with immense importance. Our unceremonious entrance therefore was regarded as highly insulting, and tending to depreciate both the dignity and lucra tiveness of his office.*

"The old man is something of a wizard. Having an understanding with the elements, certain phenomena of theirs are exhibited for his particular benefit:-unusually clear weather with a fine steady breeze, is a certain sign that a merchantman is at hand; whale-spouts seen from the harbour, are tokens of a whaling vessel's approach; and thunder, and lightning, happening so seldom as they do, are proof positive that a man-of-war is near.

"In short, Jim the pilot, is quite a character in his way, and no one visits Tahiti without hearing some curious story about him."

During the last ten days, at Tahiti, it blew very hard from north-west to south-west, with almost incessant rain, which was the heaviest, and most enduring of any I have ever encountered. On the 7th February. passed the Island of Tooboai; on making it from the northward, it appears like two islands, but on closing it, you discover that it is the base of one hill in juxta-position with a higher one. Steer for this ridge between the two hills, and it will carry you to the passage through the reefs to the anchorage inside. The harbour inside the reefs, is very unsafe and fit only for very small vessels, and the anchorage outside is very insecure, and rocky, bad holding ground: the Ana, French brig of war, about 200 tons, lost an anchor here in the month of January, and damaged another which got foul of the rocks. I observed the French protectorate flag was flying on the island. In rounding south-west Point,

*For a few years past more than 150 sail have annnally touched at Tahiti. They are principally whalemen, whose cruizing grounds lie in the vicinity. The harbour dues going to the Queen, are so high, that they have often been protested against. Jim, I believe, gets five silver dollars for every ship brought in.

give it a very wide berth, as the reef extends full a mile off it. The winds we had on our way to Pitcairns Island, though we went into 33° S. before making our northing, were found hanging to the east and north-east, and from having very strong breezes with a heavy swell from the north-east, I had some difficulty in getting to it. There is nothing very particular in its appearance on making it. I consider it in lat. 25° 4' S., and long. 130° 16' W., it is about 1200 feet above the level of the sea, and about four miles and a half in circumference, and in clear weather may be seem 50' off. Situated in the midst of the wide expanse of the Pacific, it may be said to lay almost in the variables, as the true

trade wind does not blow home.

It is thickly clothed to its summits with the most luxuriant verdure, terminating in lofty cliffs, skirted at their bases with thickly branching evergreens, which afford a welcome retreat from the burning rays of an almost vertical sun. The coast is fringed with formidable barriers, which seem to present insurmountable obstacles to landing, except in Bounty Bay, situated on the north-east side, and even here, all communication is impracticable, when it blows strong. A flag hoisted at the flag-staff, in the village, indicates that landing is practicable in Bounty Bay. On passing round the east end from the southward, St. Paul's point is shaped by the most grotesquely formed tall spiral rocks, and the Island called Adams Rock becomes visible. Having passed this rock a cable's length to the north-west, you are abreast of Bounty Bay, where you must stand off, and on, as there is no safe anchorage. The inhabitants at the time of my visit, amounted in all to 134, 69 males, 65 females, descendants of the Bounty's mutineers; they are the most interesting people I have ever met. They have a capital school (which also serves as a church) in which 47 children receive the ground work of a truly religious education. They cultivate Irish potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, Indian maize, a small quantity of taro (mountain kind), and a small quantity of Bread fruit; the latter, does not thrive well. Stock of all kinds, such as fowls, pigs, goats is plentiful and reasonable. During the year 1846 forty nine-vessels (whalers) touched here for refreshments, out of these 47 were American, 1 Bremen, and 1 English.

THE BRITANNIA ISLANDS, OR UEA, Pacific Ocean.

(Continued from p. 517)

THE Britannia Islands, named Uea by the natives, consist of one large island (thirty miles in length in a N.N.E. and S.S.W. direction), and a number of smaller ones to the westward of it, connected by coral reefs joining on to Uea, with three good ship passages leading into a large and beautiful bay, having regular soundings all over it. Its formation is similar to some of the Lagoon islands near the equator. The southeastern part of Uca presents an iron-bound shore, with perpendicular cliffs and no soundings within one hundred yards of the breakers; from

that round the north-east and north part of the island the shore is generally rocky. Boats may land in some places on the N. and N.E. parts in fine weather. The west side of the Island fronting the anchorage is low land thickly studded with cocoa-nut trees, and a white sandy beach runs along its whole margin, giving the shore a beautiful appearance from the lagoon. The Juno's entrance is one-eighth of a mile wide, and has not less than 6 fathoms water in any part of it. The Bull's entrance is rather wider, and has 12 fathoms water in mid-channel; this entrance may easily be known to a stranger by the island forming the east side of the entrance having a clump of tall pine trees on it. This is the only island near the passage which has any timber on it, the others being merely low rocky islets covered with grass and brushwood. I should decidedly prefer entering by the Bull's channel.

If bound to the anchorage off King Whiningay's village, a direct course should be steered for it, if the wind will allow, taking care not to come under five fathoms until near the place you intend to anchor, as many sunken rocks exist inshore of that line of soundings, which cannot be discerned even from the mast-head; when they can be seen, they appear to have a dark brown colour. The natives generally have fish pots set alongside the rocks, with small black buoys on them, about the size of a cocoa-nut; by keeping a good look out for those buoys, the rocks can mostly be avoided. The course from the Bull's entrance to the anchorage off Whiningay's village at Fitzaway is S.E.b. S. by compass; this course will take a vessel clear of all dangers, and when she shoals her water to four fathoms she will then be abreast of the king's village, and about one and a third miles from the shore, where she may anchor. The palisades of the fort will be seen about one hundred yards from the sandy beach, and in front of a large grove of cocoa-nut trees; to the left of that will be seen the fortification around the chief Koumah's village near the beach, and fronting the cocoa-nut trees. The two villages are about one mile apart, with few or no cocoa-nut trees betwixt them.

From Whiningay's village to the south point of Uea is about five miles; a boat harbour is formed between this point and the next island to it, fronting the small island Wassau. The next island to the westward of Wassau is of large extent, and inhabited by a chief and his dependants, who in consequence of being married to the daughter of a king, has much power over the natives, and ranks next to Koumah. This chief is named Boumulli. All the other islands of this group have no permanent inhabitants, but are merely visited occasionally by the natives when they go on fishing excursions.

The best entrance into the lagoon is on the west part of the group. This passage is four miles wide and clear of all hidden dangers. The land of Uea cannot be seen until a vessel gets some miles to the eastward of the entrance. I did not try for soundings when beating in this channel in the brig Naiad, but I rather think no soundings are to be got in the lagoon until the land of Uea is visible from the deck. A vessel may anchor in any part of the lagoon within sight of the land, as the soundings are very regular on a bottom of fine white sand. With