d him; and a day or two
afterwards he repeated to me all that had been said, and observed that
he was convinced it was just the plan to suit man's wants, and that he
would henceforth try to serve so good and merciful a God, and love that
dear Son who had been punished instead of him. Thus Harry became a
Christian; and, I believe, a much better Christian than very many on
board. Of course, when we found him his mind was imbued with the same
dark heathenism as were the minds of the savages among whom he had
lived.

A sharp look-out was kept for a sail; and our earnest wish was, that as
we got to the westward we should fall in with Captain Hudson's ship, as
he had intended to proceed in that direction. We were not so likely, it
was feared, to fall in with any of the abominable Chilian kidnappers;
they would probably only attempt to carry off the brown natives from the
islands on the eastern side of the Pacific.

We were now, it will be understood, approaching the region inhabited by
the black-skinned races. We had stood to the southward, and visited
Samoa or Navigator's Islands, inhabited by an intelligent brown-skinned
race, far more advanced in civilisation than the people we now expected
to meet with; but I must not stop to describe them.

We had been some days at sea, still running to the westward, when we
sighted a small island ahead. The captain considered that it was the
northernmost of a chain of volcanic islands extending from the Friendly
group; and, as it was not marked on the chart, he wished to survey it,
so we accordingly stood on. As we approached nearer, we saw that it
consisted of a range of conical peaks,--many of the hills rising sheer
out of the water, while others were bordered by low cliffs or beaches.
It had also several deep bays or inlets. Though it was surrounded by a
coral reef, two openings were perceived in it, through which it appeared
that there would be no difficulty in taking the ship, when we might find
secure anchorage in one of the bays within it. A passage nearly the
eighth of a mile wide appearing ahead of us, we entered, having
look-outs as usual aloft, to warn us in time of any hidden reefs in our
course, while the lead was also kept going.

The wind being light, it was evening before we came to an anchor; and
darkness soon coming on, displayed to our eyes the magnificent spectacle
of a volcano sending forth masses of flame, with hot lava running down
the sides of the mou