labourer does come, the planters are only too glad to get the coolie to fill his place, and value him greatly for want of something better.

For nearly two years the importation of coolies had ceased, principally because no one could persuade them to come, and the planters looked forward to the expiration of their three years' agreement with the labourers then in the colony with dismay. The fact was that the Islanders at home suspected us, as I verily believe, of having eaten their countrymen, and were unwilling to trust themselves with the white men without further knowledge of their nature.

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Now we have all heard of the South Seas, and, for my part, Masterman Ready' had always been a rival of Robinson Crusoe' in my affections; and coral, cocoa-nuts and cannibalism were three things I had determined from my earliest childhood to see for myself. Years ago I had heard from an old shepherd, in whose hut I was living as sheep overseer, of his cruises in the South Seas. He used to pour into my ear by the hour descriptions, which I am bound to say were a good deal coloured by his own imagination, of the romantic beauty of these islands, of the desperate fights the 'sandal-wood getters' used to have with the natives, and especially how, having

run away from his ship, he lived a sort of Garden of Eden life among the natives, and was looked up to and reverenced as a king by these simple people. This part of his story is, however, of dubious authenticity, as anyone less likely to be reverenced I never came across than old Tom was when I last saw him.

ABORIGINE WHEN ASKED TO WORK.

THE LAST PURCHASE.

CHAPTER II.

I decide to go--Polynesian Labourers Act-I start for the South Seas-Native Trade-What a Coolie takes back with him from Queensland.

AT LAST, however, in the year 1870, finding that no one could bring us men, and that the plantations were going to ruin for want of hands, I up made my mind to go myself, and make one attempt to procure labourers to keep alive a little longer sugar-growing in Queensland.

I will not inflict on my readers the whole of what

GOVERNMENT PROTECTION.

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I went through as soon as I made known my determination: how I was advised to make my will, how I was offered a choice assortment of revolvers and breechloading rifles, how I experienced a sudden increase of friendliness on the part of the storekeepers and merchants who had goods to dispose of, how every drunken sailor about the place professed himself to be the only man who knew anything of the trade, and how one man gravely informed me the modus operandi was this-You took a trade musket, value about fifteen shillings, and having found a chief, presented it to him, requiring so many men, upon which he said to his subjects, You go to Queensland; when you get there, in about a month's time white man will probably eat you; but if you dare to stop here, I'll eat you myself to-morrow!'

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The Polynesian Labourers Act, passed by the Queensland Government in 1868, obliges employers to enter into heavy bonds on applying for leave to import coolies, and further regulates the scale of provisions with which they are to be supplied, giving them (what few English labourers in the south of England can make sure of) 1 lb. meat and 1 lb. flour per diem, with vegetables, tobacco, tea, sugar, and soap; and causes vessels fetching them from the islands to be fitted up with separate and raised

sleeping-places, allowing 144 cubic feet of space for each man, and good conveniences for cooking, &c.

The Act further provides that the immigrants shall be furnished, immediately on their coming on board, with shirts, trousers, and blankets, and imposes a penalty of 50l. on any and every breach of these regulations. The Immigration Agent in Brisbane is further bound to see that, on arrival, all the men fully understand their agreements, and sign them in his presence for depositing in the hands of Government; that they come of their own free will, and that they are able and willing to work for three years at 61. per year; the Government guaranteeing them a free passage back to their own islands at the expiration of that time, and exacting from the employers a quarterly payment of fifteen shillings per coolie to accumulate during their time of service for return passage-money.

I found myself, then, at Brisbane in May 1870, with a schooner of 130 tons which had been passed by the Government as provided with all requisite accommodation, and proceeded to lay in a goodly supply of axes, adzes, tomahawks, knives, muskets, powder, bullets, blue and red calico, dozens of boxes of Bryant and May's safety matches, pipes, tobacco, red-lead, beads, and fish-hooks-all these articles