ent a military guard. From the Italian and
Spanish 'settlers' there was nothing to fear. Whatever they suffered
they suffered in silence, like sheep; and the presence of several
priests (going out to preach in the handsome stone cathedrals and
churches before mentioned), whom they looked up to with simple
reverence, was a surer safeguard for their good conduct than a company
of troops. The married men among the French contingent of the second
lot were like them in this respect; but, all through the course of the
disastrous expedition, it was cursed by the inclusion of a number of
unmarried man, whose ruffianism proved too strong to be checked; then
there were a number of _nymphes du pavi_, recruited from the streets of
Marseilles and Toulon. 'They came on board as unmarried women, but an
"arrangement" in each case was made with one of the single men to play
M. le Mari,' said one of the leaders, to the writer, when he lay dying
of fever in the _Genil's_ stifling saloon at Duke of York Island. Who
can wonder at the collapse of the 'colony,' when practices such as
these were tolerated? But it is typical of the system, or rather want of
system, of French colonisation generally. On March 16th the _Genii_
left Barcelona with over two hundred and fifty colonists--men, women
and children. Some of the Italians were from the north--these were
hard-working and intelligent--some from Calabria--little better than
beasts of the field--and the Spaniards came from Valencia and Catalonia.
The military guard consisted of a Spanish captain and lieutenant and
an Italian lieutenant, while the rank and file were of various
nationalities. Before the crazy old _Genii_ reached Port Said the guard
themselves made matters warm, and, with the first and second engineers
and second officer, refused to proceed. Rabardy, the captain, gladly let
them go at Port Said and made for the Maldive Islands, where he engaged
thirty Arabs. Later on he put these ashore at Point de Galle. At
Singapore the vessel remained six weeks, waiting for instructions,
and then reached Liki Liki Bay fifteen days later--to find the place
abandoned and the beach covered with the stores left there by the
_Chandernagore_ party, who had escaped to Australia; this he learned two
days later from the white traders at Mioko, the settlement on Duke of
York Island, twenty or thirty miles away. Rabardy was at his wit's end.
He knew that another steamer was due in a month or two, and determ