Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/110

 When these islands were first discovered, in 1678, they were estimated to have a population of about one  hundred thousand. It is a most singular fact that the group was not again visited, as far as known, by any ship  from the civilized world, until 1778, a hundred years  afterward, when the Astrolabe and La Perduse touched  there and the captain and part of the crew of the former  were barbarously massacred by the natives. When visited by the missionaries, in 1830, from frequent wars among themselves, the population had decreased to less  than sixty thousand. The missionaries found two white men here. One of them was Mr. Daniel French, who remembered me when a child, to whom I have previously  referred. The Rev. John Williams revisited them in 1836, in the Messenger of Peace, a small vessel of about  ninety tons, built by him at the Society Islands out of  cocoanut and bread-fruit trees. He was accompanied by a number of missionaries for this station, among them  Mr. Harris.

The constellation of the Pleiades, though small its stars and pale their light, is of wide fame. They are called by Jack before the mast "The Seven Sisters,"  though there are really fourteen of them. Their appearance on the horizon in December is hailed with shell- music and rejoicing by the natives in these latitudes.

Having completed our survey of all the islands of this group, on the 10th signal was made for the squadron to  get under way. Our anchor was soon catted, and sails hoisted to catch the gentle breezes of the Pacific. In a short time the beautiful port of Upolu was far in the  distance. On the 12th we made Uea or Wallis Island.