THE BRIG GRECIAN, AND THE SLAVE TRADE IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

(From Melbourne Leader, 2Sth Nov.) The .profitable nature of the infamous practice of kidnapping the natives of the South Sea Islands, and carrying them as slaves to Peru, has at length proven sufficiently tempting to induce a British subject, an Irishman, sailing from an Australian colony— Tasmania — to dare the dangers associated with the traffic. This we bain from a seaman, John Turner, now in this port, who, along- with eight Others, It'ft the vessel in which he shipped on the understanding that she wai going on a whaling voyage, ns soon as they learned that it was the purpose of the captain to take part in the Peruvian slave trade. Tinner, who is employed on board the schooner Uinnia, now lying at the Au-traiian Whaiij gives us the following narrati v o : — "Co the 2-I. h of February la6t he joined the brig Grecian, of Hohait Town, Capt. T. J. M'Grath, to go on a whaling voyage, and io he discharged at New -Zealand, or the fir-jt Australian colony at which the vessel might call on or after the 2') th of May. Ii stead of directing his attention to whaling, the captain proceeded to (he South Sea Islands. On tho !7th of May he proposed to the crew they should en'er upon the slave trade as being more profitable. Turner and .-even others refused and on tlie 20 th of the same month, the vessel being olf lavage Island, and the articles having expired, tho captain ordered them to i>e put ashore, and Jcfc on the rocks. Scarcely had tho boat touched the sh'>re when a missionary came, and told them that the natives gave them only five minutes to lease. They told this to the t-eee:>d mate who was in charge of the boat, and he then took them again nn hoard the brig, and for doing so was .severely reprimanded by the enpnvn, who a'-cu-ed him of being guilty of a breach of orde s in not leaving the m n on the rocks as he had told him Lo do. On (lie male's remonstrating with ihe captain, the lalter asko.-i him with a;i oath what he had to do wkh tho na lives or the men cither, ike nun then asked him to take them to a Rriti.-di port, or to some place where there wa- a British magistrate, but he answered that he would do nothing of the kind. He, however, seems to have relented so far as to take them on hoard. In a week nfierwaul-, on the 27th of .May. he again sent the.in ashore, the vessel then being off Tutuila, one of the Navigator <;roup, threatening to shoot them if they refused. At the farther end of ibis island was the residence of the jiriii^h consular agent, and the natives being, to a certain extent, fiiendly, the eight men who were landed, induced them by the payment of fourteen dollars in money and the gift of s-'ino clothes, to conduct them overland. On arriving at tho town of Leone, they visited the consul.ir agent. Mr Henry Hunkin. They remained there for two days, and received f. om the agent every kindness that it was iv his power to bestow. On the seventeenth day after being landed, and the second after arriving at Leone, they left in a boat provided for them hy Mr Hunkin, and pioceeded to Upolo, an island distant about seventy miles, where the British consul, Mr VI -Farlane, resided. They accomplished the distance in two days and a night, having had nothing to eat during the time except a few cocoa nuts, as Mr Hunkin was unable to give them sup:. lies, his stores being exhausted. On aniving at Upolu, they received every attention from Mr M'Farlane. After being there for about five weeks, five of the men shipped on hoard the American whaler Desdemona. The other three remained for six weeks longer. During their stay, John Bryan, formerly a shipmate on board the Grecian also arrived there. He was landed at Lafuca, in Ovolau. on of the Fiji Islands, because of his objection to be a party to slave trading, and informed Turner and his mates that, after their lea\ing, the vessel called at Tonya. The captain there induced a largo company of tho natives to come on beard to trado, and while they were dining on the 'tw-.on decks, closed the hatches upon them, m ar, women, ami children, to the number of about 130, and sailed with them for the Peruvian coast. At this time the crew consisted of fifteen persons, consisting of Maories taken on board at the Chatham Islands — where Turner and the others joined the ship — Port ugliest-, and one Swede. There was also the boy, a native of Tasmania, of the name of Egan, whom the captain would not allow to leave, though his apprenticeship had expired, alleging as his reason that, he had not his indentures with him. Bryan having obtained employment at Upolu, remained there, and Turner and his mates ultimately obtained a passage in tiie Pettel, schooner, of Sydney. On their way they called at the Fiji Islands, where*the other two left the Petrel, but Turner came with her to Sydney. After being there for some time be obtained a passage by the Scotia, to Melbourne, and, on his arrival, shipped on hoard the Urania for Hobart Town. Having arrived at the latter place, he called on the owner of the Grecian with respect to his wages but was told that the ycsscl not having been heard of since her departure from the Chatam Islands, he could receive no redress. It would thus appear that, in addition to entering on the slave trade, the captain has also appropriated the brig. Turner, however, intends, on the return of the Urania to Hobart Town, to take legal steps for the recovery of his claim for wages, having served the full timo for which he signed i articles, and the vessel being, up to that time, so far as he was aware, legitimately employed.