Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/147



our arrangements being completed, the ships were unmoored on the evening of the 22nd of November, in readiness to sail at an early hour the next morning. Late at night Commander Sulivan brought on board a letter he had just received from a surgeon at Kororarika, who held also the office of coroner, stating he had received information that a most atrocious murder had been committed by a party of "Maoris," who, after killing Mrs. Robertson, an European woman, three children, and her man-servant, had set fire to the house; and the inhabitants of the town, being in dread of an immediate attack, requested that an armed force might be landed for their protection. As this application was not backed by the magistrate, although he had been solicited to do so by the constable whom the coroner had charged with the delivery of it, I suspected that he considered their fears groundless. I, however, directed Commander Sulivan to send a strong party immediately to the village to make more particular inquiries into the circumstances, and report to me, without loss of time. Lieutenant Ellerman, to whom this duty was intrusted, returned soon after midnight, and acquainted me that he had found the inhabitants in a state of