ent on shore with casks. I was
anxious to go, but old Tom kept me back. "You stay where you are,
Jack," he said, "or the skipper may play you some trick. It's a
dangerous place to land at, you are sure of a wetting, and may lose your
life in going through the surf."

In the evening, when the party returned, I found this to be the case.
Still, I might have been tempted, I think, to run off and let the ship
sail away without me, as I heard that there were plenty of goats on the
island, abundance of water, and that the vegetation was very rich.

It is also an exceedingly picturesque spot, the mountains rising
abruptly from the sea, surrounded by a narrow strip of beach. Those who
went on shore had also caught a large quantity of fish, of various
sorts, as well as lobsters and crabs, which supplied all hands for
several days.

Perhaps old Tom had a suspicion of what I might have been tempted to do,
and I fancied that was his chief reason for keeping me on board.

The idea having once taken possession of my mind, I resolved to make my
escape at the next tempting-looking island we might touch at, should I
find any civilised men living there, or should it be uninhabited. I had
no wish to live among savages, as I had read enough of their doings to
make me anxious to keep out of their way, and I was not influenced by
motives which induce seamen to run from their ships for the sake of
living an idle, profligate life, free from the restraints of
civilisation.

A few days after leaving Massafuera, we got into the trade winds, which
carried us swiftly along to the northward. Again we crossed the
equator; and about three weeks afterwards made the island of Owhyee, the
largest of the Sandwich Islands. As we coasted along, we enjoyed the
most magnificent view I had ever beheld. Along the picturesque shore
were numerous beautiful plantations, while beyond it rose the rocky and
dreary sides of the gigantic Mouna Roa, its snow-clad summit towering to
the clouds. It was on this island that Captain Cook was murdered by the
now friendly and almost civilised natives, who have, indeed, since
become in many respects completely so, and taken their place among the
nations of the world.

We sailed on, passing several islands, when we brought up in the
beautiful bay of Whytetee. Near the shore was a village situated in an
open grove of cocoa-nut trees, with the hills rising gently in the rear,
presenting a charming prospect. The m