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chasing pirates and slavers. The Admiral was there in the Spartiate, his headquarters being Rio. My next experience was a voyage to the Colonies. I joined a ship that was bringing out a batch of male convicts, shipped at Sheerness, and bound for Tasmania, or Van Dieman’s Land, as it was then called. Since then I have never left the Colonies. I got clear of the vessel in Sydney, and came from that port to New Zealand. This is as much as you need to know of my early life, which was a lively one, as you may guess; but of course what you want to know is what took place after I came to New Zealand. Well! I’ll tell you.

“I came to Otago in a brig named the Micmac, and landed at Otago on the 17th March, 1836 (St. Patrick’s Day). The very day after we landed, we killed a couple of fair-sized whales right up in the harbour. They were the first whales I ever saw killed. The boats were not away more than twenty minutes before they had them both, and they were killed in a twinkling. And I want to say here that we had two white women on board. Make mention of that, please. I’ll tell you why. I had a regular laugh to myself when I read in one of the papers a little while ago that Mrs. Tom Jones was the first white woman to come to Otago. It shows what a precious lot they knew about it. Why, there was Mrs. Brinn. She came down from Sydney with her husband in the Bee brig long before Mrs. Jones, and was here in Otago for some three years, eventually going back to Sydney with her husband, who was whaling at Waikouaiti and Otago. Brinn Point was named after her, from the circumstance that she frequented the spot to look out for the boats, when they were after whales. And the women we brought in the Micmac were here before Mrs. Brinn was. One of them was Mrs. Flood, and the other was Mrs. Garrett. They came with their husbands.