[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]
THE SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS 291
the steamer, looking sadly back at his disappearing
paradise. ‘
Our good times, too, were over. We had a dull,
rainy night, a heavy, broadside swell, and as the
steamer had not enough ballast, she rolled frightfully.
In this nasty sea we were afraid she might turn
turtle, as another steamer had done some months ago.
The storm became such that we had to lie at anchor
for five days, sheltered by the coast of Gaua. It was
with real relief that I left the Scat/Lem Cross at
Port Vila; sorry as I was to leave my friends on
board, I did not envy them the long voyage to New
Zealand.
Two days later I took the mail steamer for
Sydney. Although tired enough, and glad to return
to the comforts of civilization, I felt real regret at
leaving the places where I had spent so many
delightful hours, and where I had met with so much
kindness on all sides.
