reach
the station. I almost ran against the gable end of a house the greater
part of which was in ruins. I heard a loud moan. It was repeated. I
hunted about till I came on a native crouching down and endeavouring to
find shelter under part of the building yet standing. I asked him if he
would guide me to the mission house. My voice roused him, and he said
he would gladly do so. He sprang to his feet, and led me on by the
hand. "Here it is!" he exclaimed; but, alas, it was roofless and
deserted.

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Note 1. In the course of this volume the author, it will be observed,
has transcribed much from the actual reports of missionaries, and from
the journals of naval officers who have visited the South-Seas. Even in
the connecting thread of narrative, and in descriptive scenes such as
this of the storm, the writer has stated nothing for which he has not
ample authority in published works. In a most interesting book, "Gems
from the Coral Islands," by the Reverend William Gill, volume two,
chapter 9, an account is given of the fearful hurricane of 1846, which
devastated the island of Raratonga. Dr Bourne, son of the Reverend R
Bourne, one of the founders of the Tahitian mission, the friend and
associate of Williams, thus writes concerning the illustrations which
accompany our letterpress, proofs of which he had seen: "The engravings
represent the tropical aspect of the vegetation with great correctness.
Many are not aware of the grandeur of the mountain scenery in some of
the islands. Dr Darwin, who was with Captain Fitzroy's expedition,
says of Tahiti: `Until I actually visited this island, and tried to
penetrate its mountain fastnesses, I could never understand the
statement made by Ellis, in his "Polynesian Researches," that after the
great battles of former times the defeated party took refuge in the
mountains, where it was impossible to follow them.' Mr Darwin then
describes the rugged ravines and forest-clad precipices, wilder than
anything he had witnessed in the South American Andes or Cordilleras."
Raiatea, Eimeo, and others in the Society group, are composed of vast
and abrupt mountain ranges, rising almost abruptly from the sea, and
having very little habitable ground, but all covered with the densest
vegetation. The most stupendous volcanoes in the world are those of the
Sandwich Islands, compared with which Etna and Vesuvius are m