indited, upon a chest-lid, a
concise statement of our grievances; concluding with the earnest hope, that the
consul would at once come off, and see how matters stood, for himself. Right
beneath the note was described the circle about which the names were to be
written; the great object of a Round Robin being to arrange the signatures in
such a way, that, although they are all found in a ring, no man can be picked
out as the leader of it.
    Few among them had any regular names; many answering to some familiar title,
expressive of a personal trait; or, oftener still, to the name of the place from
which they hailed; and in one or two cases were known by a handy syllable or
two, significant of nothing in particular but the men who bore them. Some, to be
sure, had, for the sake of formality, shipped under a feigned cognomen, or
Purser's name; these, however, were almost forgotten by themselves; and so, to
give the document an air of genuineness, it was decided that every man's name
should be put down as it went among the crew. The annexed, therefore, as nearly
as I can recall it, is something like a correct representation of the
signatures. It is due to the doctor to say that the circumscribed device was
his. Folded, and sealed with a drop of tar, the Round Robin was directed to The
English Consul, Tahiti; and, handed to the cook, was by him delivered into that
gentleman's hands as soon as the mate went ashore.
    On the return of the boat, some time after dark, we learned a good deal from
old Baltimore, who, having been allowed to run about as much as he pleased, had
spent his time gossiping.
    Owing to the proceedings of the French, everything in Tahiti was in an
uproar. Pritchard, the missionary consul, was absent in England; but his place
was temporarily filled by one Wilson, an educated white man, born on the island,
and the son of an old missionary of that name still living.
    With natives and foreigners alike, Wilson the younger was exceedingly
unpopular, being held an unprincipled and dissipated man, a character verified
by his subsequent conduct. Pritchard's selecting a man like this to attend to
the duties of his office had occasioned general dissatisfaction ashore.
    Though never in Europe or America, the acting consul had been several
voyages to Sydney in a schooner belonging to the mission; and therefore our
surprise was lessened when Baltimore told us,