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Rh outbreak, and some fighting and loss of life ensued. They then divided into two separate bodies, under different chiefs, about thirty remaining in their original locality, twenty-five more going to the southward, the remainder maintaining separate independence. Neither Maori nor European has, however, trodden these desolate shores for many years prior to Captain Musgrave's visit.

From the eminent services rendered to geographical science, and to further those commercial enterprises in which the Messrs. Enderby for several generations had so largely engaged, the group was granted by the British Government to Messrs. Charles, George, and H. Enderby, and on the formation of the Southern Whale Fishery Company they undertook the establishment of their principal centre of operations here. Accordingly, Mr. Charles Enderby, with an efficient staff of assistants, took possession of his domain in the early part of 1850, finding the New Zealanders before mentioned in possession of a portion of the land. Their claims were soon adjusted, and they became great auxiliaries to the infant colony. This, then, is the brief history of this remote island. It promised to become a most conspicuous point in the wide world of waters. With every advantage of insulation, the possession of numerous and excellent harbours, with every means at command for the relaxation of whale and other fisheries in these seas, it was not unreasonably thought that it must some day become the centre of much trade, and that, too, of a very different character to almost every other part of the South Pacific. But in less than two years the whole scheme of the 'Great Southern Whale Fishery' fell through. It does not fall within our province to go into particulars, although the story is both curious and instructive. It is sufficient to say that the whole settlement was abandoned in 1852, and the business details became the source of infinite legal difficulties.

Though the group has been visited by the four principal navigators above mentioned, Morrell describing a southern