in hopes that she might possibly be
floated, patched up, and brought to Sydney. However, on arriving at the
island I found that she was hopelessly bilged, so we at once set to work
to strip her of everything of value, especially her copper, which was
new. It was during these operations that I made acquaintance with both
poisonous and stinging fish. There were not more than sixty or seventy
natives living on the island, and some of these, as soon as we anchored
in the lagoon, asked me to caution my own natives--who came from various
other Pacific islands--not to eat any fish they might catch in the
lagoon until each one had been examined by a local man. I followed their
injunction, and for two or three weeks all went well; then came trouble.

I had brought down with me from Sydney a white carpenter--one of the
most obstinate, cross-grained old fellows that ever trod a deck, but an
excellent workman if humoured a little. At his own request he lived on
board the wrecked barque, instead of taking up his quarters on shore in
the native village with the rest of the wrecking party. One evening as I
was returning from the shore to the schooner--I always slept on board--I
saw the old man fishing from the waist of the wreck, for it was high
tide, and there was ten feet of water around the ship. I saw him
excitedly haul in a good-sized fish, and, hailing him, inquired how many
he had caught, and if he were sure they were not poisonous? He replied
that he had caught five, and that "there was nothin' the matter with
them." Knowing what a self-willed, ignorant man he was, I thought I
should have a look at the fish and satisfy myself; so I ran the boat
alongside and clambered on board, followed by two of my native crew. The
moment we opened the fishes' mouths and looked down their throats we saw
the infallible sign which denoted their highly poisonous condition--a
colouring of bright orange with thin reddish-brown streaks. The old
fellow grumbled excessively when I told him to throw them overboard, and
then somewhat annoyed me by saying that all the talk about them being
unsafe was bunkum. He had, he said, caught and eaten just the same kind
of fish at Vavau, in the Tonga Islands, time and time again. It was no
use arguing with such a creature, so, after again warning him not to eat
any fish of any kind unless the natives "passed" them as non-poisonous,
I left him and went on board my own vessel.

We had supper rather later than usual