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to the collar-bone. I hope he will recover. The excitement amongst the natives here was very great indeed, and I am very certain that very few mourned more sincerely for Captain Ferguson's death than did Torogood, a chief of this island. I never saw a native express such deep feeling. On entering the cabin he burst into tears, threw himself down on the floor, knocked his head against the side, and fairly howled in his sorrow and anger. He was very anxious then to know how far the place was, and if he and his people could be taken there to fight. Next day he destroyed his plantations, and burnt and destroyed all the clothing and other presents which had been given him, blackened his face, divided out native money, and observed every form of mourning according to native'custom for a very near relative. All the natives hero feel that they have lost a good friend by this sad calamity."

No. 6. [Extract from the Sydney Morning Herald, 2nd December, 1880.] Another Massacbe in the South Seas. Captain Vkier, late of the schooner " Vibilia," of Sydney, arrived at Cooktown on 22nd November, and reports the loss of his vessel on 2nd September, at the Louisiade Archipelago. All hands were saved. The vessel was beached at Kolumna Island. The captain and five men proceeded iu an open boat, and arrived on 18th October at Teste Island, where the native missionary informed him that Captain Foreman and the crew of the "Annie Brooks," schooner, from Cooktown, were murdered by Brooke Islanders at Newstone Island, early in September. The vessel and a valuable cargo of beche-de-mer, the proceeds of five months' fishing, w rere entirely destroyed. He also reports that a party of French naturalists, all residents of Cooktown, had been murdered at Jannes Bay, Moresby Island, early in October. Their boat and collection were destroyed without any provocation. Captain Vrier proceeded to Kerepuna mission station, and bought the wreck of a Chinese junk taken by the Aroma natives in July last. The Eev. Mr. Chalmers supplied the necessaries for repairing the vessel, which started for Kolumna; but, making too much leeway, she bore away for Cooktown. The names of the " Annie Brooks' " party were: Captain Foreman, Purdie, Mcßao, Campbell, Hastings, Jeffries, two other Europeans, and three Chinese. The French party consisted of Auguste Naudan, John Chambord, and three other Europeans. Captain Foreman's family reside in Sydney.

No. 7. [Leader in Sydney Morning Herald, 30th November, 1880.] The disaster which has befallen the commander and five, seamen of H.M.S. " Sandfly " is the saddest that has reached us since the massacre of Commodore Groodenough. There seems to be too much reason to believe that this catastrophe has also been the outcome, if not of a want of forethought, of an excess of confidence in a treacherous and savage race. We know that it is always easy to be wise after the event. The fact must not be overlooked that those who would hold intercourse with native races must, to a certain extent, put their trust in them. It cannot be forgotten, however, that the Solomon Islanders have acquired for themselves a savage pre-eminence. Even if that were not the case, the stories of massacre which have reached us from the Islands of late ought to be sufficient to teach Europeans the folly of placing themselves at the mercy of the natives. The account of the "Sandfly" disaster is a short one, and circumstances besides those which are reported may be necessary to a complete knowledge of the case. Bat if the statement made by the sole survivor be correct— and of that there can be little doubt —the unfortunate commander of the "Sandfly" seems to have acted with less prudence than might have been expected from an officer in his situation. It is stated, for example, that on reaching Nogu Island the company from the " Sandfly " hauled the boat up and had tea there. This being done, two of the men went to bathe, two others with the captain went along the beach, the sixth man being left to look after the boat, the firearms which the party had brought with them being left in the boat. The result was pretty much what might have been expected. The party were surprised. A crowd of about fifty natives surrounded the boat, a second set of savages attacked the men on the beach, and a third the two men who had gone into the water. The commander fled to the branches of a tree, and there found a refuge for the night, but was shot down in the morning by means of his own firearms. The lesson from all this is a sufficiently simple one, and it is to be hoped that it will not be lost upon those who may find it necessary to visit the group where the unfortunate captain and men of the " Sandfly " met their fate. The case supplies us with another illustration of the fact that the policy of venturing upon an island of bloodthirsty savages without arms, and even without suspicion, may be carried too far. But it is evident that, if commercial intercourse is to be carried on between these colonies and the South Sea Islands, something besides prudential measures will have to be adopted. There has hardly been a month or a fortnight of late without its story of a South Sea Island massacre. The natives are discovering that they can murder white men with impunity, and, thus encouraged, it is not surprising that they murder them whenever an opportunity is offered. The evil is becoming a little too common and too serious. There is no evidence that it has given much concern to the authorities at Home, but it is possible that the attack which has been made upon the British flag will produce the conviction that it is one which calls for both a prompt inquiry and for an effectual remedy. There is a growing feeling to the effect that sufficient protection is not afforded to ordinary traders in the South Sea Islands, and atrocities like the one we report to-day will serve to show that there is insufficient protection for the officers of justice themselves. It ought not to be too much to expect that in a wellordered nation like ours there should be ample means either for preventing these massacres or for punishing the perpetrators of them ; but in reply to this the naval authorities iu England would say that they have a great deal else to think about just now, and that the South Sea Islands are a long way off. It must be confessed that it is much easier to complain of these South Sea Island atrocities than it is to divine the cause of them, or to put a stop to them. There are those who tell us that there