n,
while struggling in the sea, the men were seized and thrust into the
hold, and the hatches were fastened down. When in this dastardly manner
a sufficient number had been gathered together, and the dark interior of
the ship was filled with a steaming mass of human beings densely
huddled together, the captains set sail for Queensland, where they
landed those of their living cargoes who had escaped the deadly
pestilence which filth and confinement always engendered in such cases.

#10. Polynesian Labourers' Act.#--These were the deeds of a few ruthless
and disreputable seamen; but the people of Queensland, as a whole, had
no sympathy with such barbarities, and in 1868 a law was passed to
regulate the labour traffic. It enacted that no South Sea Islanders were
to be brought into the colony unless the captain of the vessel could
show a document, signed by a missionary or British consul, stating that
they had left the islands of their own free will; Government agents were
to accompany every vessel, in order to see that the "Kanakas" were well
treated on the voyage; and, on leaving the colony, no labourer was to
receive less than six pounds worth of goods for every year he had
worked.

These regulations were of great use, but they were often evaded; for, by
giving a present to the king of an island, the sailors could bribe him
to force his people to express their willingness before the missionary.
The trembling men were brought forward, and, under the fear of their
chief's revenge, declared their perfect readiness to sail. Sometimes the
Government agents on board the vessels were bribed not to report the
misdeeds of the sailors; and in the case of the _Jason_, on which the
agent was too honest to be so bribed, he was chained below by the
captain, on the pretence that he was mad. When the ship arrived in
Queensland, the unfortunate man was found in a most miserable state of
filth and starvation. For this offence the captain was arrested, tried,
and imprisoned. Whatever regulations may be made, a traffic of this sort
will occasionally have its dark and ugly features, yet it may be truly
enough said that while the "Kanakas" have been of great service to
Queensland, the colony has also been of service to them. The islanders
are generally glad to be taken; they have better food and easier lives
on the plantations than they have in their homes; they gather a trunkful
of property such as passes for great wealth in the islands,