AM TELL--GOING A-PLEASURING--UPSET VERSUS BLOWN UP--A DEAD
CALM--THE LOG--WILLIS'S ARCHIPELAGO--THE ISLAND OF SOPHIA--THE BREAD
FRUIT-TREE--NATIVES OF POLYNESIA--STRIPED TROWSERS--ABDUCTION OF
WILLIS--IS HE TO BE ROASTED OR BOILED?--WHEN THE WINE IS POURED OUT,
WE MUST DRINK IT.

At the date of the events narrated in the preceeding chapter,
comparatively little was known of Oceania, that is, of the islands and
continents that are scattered about the Pacific Ocean. Most of them
had been discovered, named, and marked correctly enough in the charts,
but beyond this all was supposition, hypothesis, and mystery. The
mighty empire of England in the east was then only in its infancy,
Sutteeism and Thuggism were still rampant on the banks of the Ganges,
but the power of the descendants of the Great Mogul was on the wane.
California was only known as the hunting-ground of a savage race of
wild Indians. The now rich and flourishing colonies of Australia were
represented by the convict settlement of Sydney. The Dutch had
asserted that the territory of New Holland was utterly uninhabitable,
and this was still the belief of the civilized world; nor was it
without considerable opposition on the part of _soi-disant_
philanthropists that the English government succeeded in establishing
a prison depot on what at the time was considered the sole spot in
that vast territory susceptible of cultivation. At the present time,
these formerly-despised regions send _one hundred tons of pure gold_
to England. The political state of Europe itself had at this time
assumed a singular aspect. Napoleon had made himself master of nearly
all the continental states; Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and a
part of Germany were at his feet; and, by the Peace of Tilsit, he had
secured the cooperation of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, in his
schemes to ruin the trade and commerce of Great Britain. England, by
her opportune seizure of the Danish fleet, broke up the first great
northern confederacy that was formed against her. This act, though
much impugned by the politicians of the day, is now known not only to
have been perfectly justifiable, but also highly creditable to the
political foresight of Canning and Castlereagh, by whom it was
suggested, to say nothing of the daring and boldness that Nelson
displayed in executing the manoeuvre. When news of this event reached
the Russian Emperor it threw him into a paroxysm of rage, and he
declared war against