Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/345

 OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 105 sented ; and everything was settled to the entire satisfaction of the whites, and to the honour and credit of young Ooroony. The result was, in substance, as we shall now record. In the first place, one hundred lads were selected and handed over to the governor, as so many apprentices to the sea. These young Kannakas were so many hostages for the good behaviour of their parents; while the parents, always within reach of the power of the colonists, were so many hostages for the good behaviour of the Kannakas. Touch ing the last, however, the governor had very few misgiv ings, since he believed it very possible so to treat, and so to train them, as to make them fast friends. In placing them on board the different vessels, therefore, rigid instruc tions were given to their officers to be kind to these young sters; and each and all were to be taught to read, and instructed in the Christian religion. The Rev. Mr. Horn- blower took great interest in this last arrangement, as did Haff the females of the colony. Justice and kind treatment, in fact, produced their usual results in the cases of these hundred youths; every one of whom got to be, in the end, far more attached to the Reef, and its customs, than to their own islands and their original habits. The sea, no doubt, contributed its share to this process of civilization ; for it is ever found that the man who gets a thorough taste for that element, is loth to quit it again for terra firma. One hundred able-bodied men were added to the recruits that the governor obtained in Betto s group. They were taken as hired labourers, and not as hostages. Beads and old iron were to be their pay, with fish-hooks, and such other trifles as had a value in their eyes ; and their engage ment was limited to two months. There was a disposition among a few of the colonists to make slaves of these men, and to work their lands by means of a physical force ob tained in Betto s group ; but to this scheme the council would not lend itself for a moment. The governor well knew that the usefulness, virtue, and moral condition of his people, depended on their being employed ; and he had no wish to undermine he permanent prosperity of the