We stayed together in Cooktown for a couple of weeks, and then Captain Brown was offered the command of a small vessel trading between Cooktown, Townsville, and the Solomon Islands, sometimes calling at Port Moresby, New Guinea. He at once offered me the berth of mate in her, and I gladly accepted, as it was quite a new part of the world to me, and just what I wanted. The “Pelew” was a smart little schooner of a hundred and fifty tons, could sail like a water witch, and was a right staunch little craft. We shipped three deck hands, one a young Danish seaman, who had cleared out from an English ship at Brisbane, and two Kanakas. The Dane was a smart, active young fellow, his only drawback being that he could not speak a word of English, but it was evident he would soon learn. The Kanakas were two splendid types of the Solomon Islanders, they were sharp, intelligent men and could speak “pigeon” English. In their younger days they had been slaves on a Queensland sugar plantation, but for the last two years they had been on one of the missionary schooners cruising among the Pacific Islands. They took life very merrily, and were always laughing, no matter what had to be done—they got some fun out of it. Work was no trouble to them, and when there was no work going on they would wrestle with each other, tumbling each other about until the perspiration rolled off them, but they never lost their tempers over it, but would finish up with a hearty laugh. Sometimes they would get the young Danish sailor to wrestle with them, but they could do just what they liked with him, he was muscular and strong, but they were slippery as eels, and twisted and twirled as though there was not a bone in their bodies, and always slipped out of his fingers before he could get a grip on them. It was great fun to Captain Brown and me to see the Kanakas, Tombaa and Panape, trying to teach Neilson, the Dane, to speak English, and Neilson trying to teach them Danish. That seemed the only thing they could not get any fun out of. At last Panape gave it up, and would not have it at any price.

“That no tam good,” said he, shaking his head. “Good fellow white man—speak Englis’—no that allee samee you. You no takee allee same good fellow captain—good fellow, mate?”

“No,” said Neilson in English.

“You no tam good, then,” said the Kanaka. “All good fellow speak Englis’. Me good fellow—me speak Englis’. Tombaa, he good fellow man, too—he speak allee samee missiony man, he teach us to say prayer to ‘Big Fellow Master’ (God), prayer belong sleep, prayer belong get up. Tombaa you speak white fellow commandments.”

I drew nearer to them, anxious to hear a Kanaka’s version of the ten commandments. Tombaa stood up, and throwing his chest out like a proud turkey cock, he delivered the following version:—

The Ten Commandments in Kanaka.

I was much amused at their interpretation, what it lacked in length was made up by the clear definition of the meaning of the ten commandments, and these two lived up to it.

We left Cooktown with a general assortment of cargo for Townsville, and a few deck passengers. The wind being fair and the weather fine, we made the passage in fifty-four hours, anchoring inside Magnetic Island. Our cargo and passengers were soon landed, and the schooner loaded for Port Moresby, New Guinea. The cargo consisted of cloth, prints, calicoes, ribbons of all sorts and colours, tobacco (horrid stuff), spirits, axes and various joinery tools, etc., and some agricultural implements. We also had four passengers—German officials—going to the German settlement, north-east New Guinea.

We left the port at sunrise. The weather was fine, one of those lovely tropical days when the sky blends its prismatic hues and the easterly breeze, as it whistles through the shrouds, brings new life and energy into one’s veins. The sea all around was covered with silver-crested waves and as the little “Pelew” cut her way through the sparkling waters she sent them like showers of jewels along her painted sides. What a joy it was to me to be once more on the ocean, to feel once more the motion of the vessel beneath my feet, and to quaff the salt breeze that was like the wine of life. We had a delightful passage, but owing to the numerous reefs and shoals we were kept constantly on the lookout. These seas require the most careful navigation, and I was surprised to find that Captain Brown seemed quite at his ease among the reefs, although, when I mentioned this and asked him about his life in these regions, I could never get any very definite answers from him. However by putting two and two together, from his chance remarks, I came to the conclusion that he had been what is known as a “blackbird catcher,” an “island scourger,” a “dealer in living ebony,” or a “sandlewood thief.”

We made the passage to Port Moresby in five days. As soon as we anchored in the bay three native crafts came off for our cargo, the agent who was in the first boat seemed half a savage himself, and had a most repulsive face. Captain Brown gave orders that no one was to leave the ship on any pretext whatever, except the German passengers, and they did not seem to like the job either, but that was what they had come out for. No natives were allowed to come on board. Their appearance was not very inviting, they were quite naked, with the exception of a strip of pounded bark or cocoanut fibre round their waist, their woolly heads were decked with shells and tufts of grass, while round their necks each had a necklace of shark’s teeth. Though fine, well-built, powerful looking fellows, their features were not what we should call handsome, as their foreheads are low and retreating, the face broad, the cheek-bones prominent, the nose flat and the lips thick. We heard that there was an English missionary living amongst them and doing a good work.

After delivering what goods we had for the store-keeper, we received orders to proceed to Gaurdalcana in the Solomon Islands, and deliver the balance to the store-keeper there.

Captain Brown then told me that the natives of the Solomon Islands were cannibals, “so you had better be careful while we are amongst these islands, and,” he continued, with a sly twinkle in his eyes “you have to be very cautious in dealing with them, for they are very partial to roast sailor. I had a terrible experience on one of the islands some years ago. I was in a smart little brig, cruising among the Islands. We were out on a blackbird (native) catching expedition. We sailed into the bay at the south-east point of San-Christobal. The brig ‘Carl’ of blackbird notoriety, had been there a few times, and after getting a number of the natives on board to trade as they thought, they had been invited into the saloon, and their eyes were dazzled by the beads and toys and other things spread on the table. Unsuspecting of any treachery they stayed until the gentle rolling of the vessel caused them to ask with some surprise what it meant, by this time the ship was well under way, and fast leaving San-Christobal behind them. They tried to rush on deck, but found themselves covered with the rifles of some of the ship’s crew, they were soon overpowered and made prisoners and put into the hold with others who had been lured to the vessel by the same device—all to be sold as slaves to the North Queensland planters—but we were not aware of this at the time.

“Well, as we drew up towards the head of the bay we suddenly grounded on a reef, and while we were rushing about backing and filling the sails, the natives swam off in hundreds and boarded the vessel on all sides. We let go the ropes and seized whatever we could lay our hands on to defend ourselves, but in a minute three of our men were beaten to death with clubs. The captain was aft by the wheel, and as soon as I saw the natives climbing over the rail I drew my knife and sprang aft near him, and together we fought like demons. But the copper-coloured fiends thronged round us, and one big fellow at last got a blow in with a club that laid the captain senseless on the deck. But his triumph was short, and mine too, for I ripped him open with my knife, and the next minute was knocked senseless on the deck myself. When I came to, I was on the floor of a hut on shore, trussed like a fowl, with my arms and legs bent behind me and lashed together. I struggled and twisted to get my hands free, but it was no use, I could not do it. I raved and shouted for some one to come and put me out of my misery. At last, as if in answer to my cry, one of the women came and looked in, and seeing me struggling, she picked up a club, and smashed me on the head with it, and again I became senseless. The next thing I remembered was being rolled over and over and my flesh being pinched by two or three natives. After jabbering among themselves for a few minutes they left me, and directly afterwards I heard the captain’s voice shouting not far off, and a lot of jabber among the natives. I could not see what was going on, but I knew that they were taking the poor fellow to kill and roast him. I tore at my bonds, until the lashings cut into the flesh. Suddenly a horrible yell burst on my ears, and I knew it was the captain’s death cry. I shook like a leaf, and the perspiration rolled off me like raindrops. I was on the rack with torture, knowing full well what was before me, and that at any minute my turn might come. I swooned away with horror at the thought, to be brought to later by a burning stick being thrust into my face. I saw four of the devils were in the hut, and a whole crowd outside. They put a small spar through my arms, and two of them lifted me up between them, like a Chinaman carrying a load. As they carried me along towards a large fire in the middle of a clearing, near a large hut, like a meeting house, my stomach and face were scraping the ground, and, oh! God, what a terrible sight met my eyes. There just in front of me was the roasting body of the poor skipper. He had been a bad devil in his time and many an islander had suffered at his hands, but they had got their revenge on him for it.

“The head man or chief now spoke to a big powerful savage, and the latter approaching me with a large knife, was about to plunge it into me to rip me open, when the head man, who was jumping about before me, suddenly fell forward on his face and lay still. The others looked on and shouted. Then some of the elder ones, seeing there was something wrong, walked up to the prostrate chief, and touched him. Finding he did not move, they turned him over, but he was dead. I thought they would fall on me at once when they realized this, but they only set up a great wail and beat their breasts with their hands. Then two of the old men spoke up, and all was quiet. After they had done speaking several of the men came to me, and I thought my last moment had come, but, to my surprise, they gently untied my hands and feet. For a few minutes I was unable to stand, but as soon as I could, one of the old men picked up the spear and club of the dead chief, placed them in my hands, and pointed to the hills. I was not long in taking advantage of my freedom, and made tracks at once. I could hardly believe that I was free, and expected every minute to hear them coming after me.

“Why I had been spared was a mystery to me then, but I afterwards learned that they released me through some superstitious fear, and a belief that the spirit of their dead chief had entered into me, had I been so minded they would have made me chief of the tribe; this they tried to make me understand when the old man placed in my hands the spear and club belonging to the dead chief. It would have made no difference to me had I known, all I wanted was to put as many miles as possible between the cursed place and myself.

“I remained in hiding for a couple of days up among the hills, and, strange to say, I never saw a single native come near to the place where I was. Another thing I noticed in my wanderings was the absence of children. I don’t remember seeing a single youngster. As a rule there are plenty of them knocking about on most of these islands, so I came to the conclusion that this was an island where it is the custom for nearly all the children of both sexes to be killed by their parents, perhaps eaten, too. I lived on bananas, cocoanuts, and other fruit that grew in abundance, but my mind was still racked with fear lest the natives should come after me, and, after all, put me to death in the same horrible manner as my shipmates.

“On the third day, after having been given my freedom I found my way down to the coast. As soon as I got down to the rocks my heart leaped for joy, for there, just rounding the point, was a vessel coming close along the coast. I looked cautiously around and along the shore in both directions, but not a sign could I see of a single native. The schooner by this time was close in to the shore, and those in charge seemed to be scanning the coast closely. I shook with excitement, for fear the vessel should haul out more to the east before I could make my presence known, but on she came like a seabird floating on the water, with her sails spread to the gentle southerly breeze. Then a new horror presented itself to my gaze, for right opposite to where I stood in the shelter of the rocks, two large sharks were gliding about among the gentle undulations of the sea, their dorsal fins standing up like knives, and cutting a ripple on the surface of the water as they moved along. When the schooner was about two miles off, I rushed out and dashed into the sea, swimming with all my might out to seaward to intercept her. I had only got about fifty feet from the shore when I heard several shots fired from the ship, followed by shouts from the beach. I swam out with all my strength, and my heart was gladdened and my hopes raised as I saw the schooner’s head pay off towards me, and after swimming about ten minutes I was picked up and drawn on board, and the schooner was hauled out to the seaward.

“As soon as I had got my breath, I told the captain of the horrors that had befallen our crew; his face set grimly as I related the captain’s death and my own narrow escape, and he asked if there were any of my shipmates still alive. I said I thought not, as the captain and myself seemed to be the only two brought on shore by those who had attacked us. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘we will put the ship on her course again, but I always have a look out for castaways near these shores. I know of several crews who have come to grief on that island. We are recruiting among the islands, and if you like I will put you on the articles and you can make this trip, or if we come across anything bound for Sydney way I will transfer you.’

“I decided to make the trip in the vessel. So we cruised about among the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands, and picked up, recruited, borrowed and stole fifty-two natives, who were kept in the hold and never allowed on deck only for a few hours each day during the time we lay off Townsville awaiting inspection by the sugar planters. Then we kept a strict watch over them you may be sure lest any of them should attempt to escape by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. We fed them up, too, and when several planters came on board, they soon engaged the Kanakas, as they were all big, fine, strapping fellows. We got ten pounds for them, this sum being paid as advance money for their passage.

“I would never have anything to do with blackbird catching again,” he continued. “It is a foul, horrible, hellish trade, and the work done on some of those crafts that trade with the Fiji Islands and New Guinea, in the labour trade, is, to say the best about it, hellish.”

“No,” I remarked, as Captain Brown finished his story, “I should think not. I wonder if you ever ventured near again?”

“Not until now,” he replied, “I left the vessel at Brisbane and got a berth in a Sydney collier as mate, I made several trips in her along the coast, and when the diggings opened in Victoria the skipper left to try his luck, so I was given command. We made several very good trips to New Zealand and back, and I put by a bit of money. Then the Palmer diggings opened, and here we are now bound for the Solomon Islands again, but not blackbird catching, not if I know it. I hope we shall not have any trouble with the natives, however. Look here, Mr. Farrar, I think we had better see what firearms we can muster, and have them ready for use.”

I thought so, too, and on examining our stock found that we had two rifles, six muskets, four revolvers, one brass cannon on deck, and plenty of ammunition.

The weather was lovely as we sailed through the passage between the Bonvouloir Isles and the Island of Aignan. The natives of these islands are cannibals, and both fierce and cruel; this spot is dreaded by sailors, as many vessels have been wrecked, and both the living and the dead eaten, so we kept both a good distance off the shore, in case we got becalmed, and a good look-out for visitors. When we were passing Aignan Island, Tombaa came aft, and told me not to go too close in shore.

“By and bye, wind no more, plenty bad black fellow come off in canoe, and make fight white fellow too muchee, no belong longa time, ship go all the same here, black fellow come plenty—much corrobboree—by-en-by white fellow no more. Black fellow eat em white fellow allee samee banana.”

A few hours later the sky became overcast, and then a dense black, the wind moaned and shrieked, and over the darkness came a close network of lightning darting in all directions, like a spider’s web. Soon the sea rose higher and higher, pitching and tossing our little vessel about like a shuttlecock. We were snugged down to a close-reefed fore staysail, and the corposants that hung about the mast heads, had a weird, uncanny appearance. The little craft behaved splendidly, she shipped a lot of spray but no heavy water. All hands were kept standing by during the night, but towards daylight the storm blew itself out, and the sky grew clear and calm again.

On the fourth day out we sighted Cape Hunter, and before dark we were anchored in the bay. The following morning the agent and the store-keeper came off with several large canoes, and the cargo was transferred to them. No one was allowed on shore and we took in about fifty tons of sweet potatoes, taro, bananas, sago and copra. I was very much surprised to see the splendid canoes built by the Solomon Islanders. They were without doubt well built and finely carved about the head and stern. I saw several leave the bay while we lay there, carrying fifty men, a large parcel of merchandise, and a lot of stores. They carry a large square sail, but in calm weather, as many as forty men can be seen paddling. These men are strong and well built and quite fearless, and I was told that two of these canoes were going to the New Hebrides Isles, quite five hundred miles away, and that they have a method of navigation by the stars that is only known to themselves. I was astonished, but I certainly should not have cared to risk my life in one so many miles from land.

The next orders were to proceed to Bourgainville and finish loading there. We were three days beating along the coast of New Georgia, passing west of Choiseul Island, around the south-east point of Bourganville, and on our way to our port. We were no sooner at anchor than the trader came off in a canoe and told us we were not to land, nor allow any natives to come on board, as there had been some trouble with a trading vessel that had fired on some of the natives and killed several, and that they were in a great state of excitement and resentment because of this. We loaded some tons of cocoanuts, and some pearl shell, also a quantity of pretty grass matting. The trader came off with each lot, and I certainly think that I would sooner risk my life with the cannibals than with that individual. He was, without a doubt, the most villainous looking man I ever cast my eyes on, and they have not been a few.

We sailed for Brisbane on the second day, and reached it after a splendid run of eight days.

The owners were very pleased with the results of the trip, but were surprised that Captain Brown had not brought a few Kanakas for the sugar plantations telling him they were a good speculation.

“No, thanks,” he replied, “I have had enough ‘blackbird catching’ to last me my lifetime, those can do it as likes, but not me.”