Before I go farther, I must relate a New Zealand adventure, which escaped my notice whilst writing of that delectable coast, and as it is one of the few incidents of my voyage with which a woman is connected, it would not be just for me to omit it: it was as follows. One night whilst we lay in Milford Haven Bay, one of the owners of the schooner Eliza approached me very mysteriously, and asked the privilege of a few minutes conversation with me. Of course I acquiesced, wondering at the motive for his request. I was soon enlightened. He stated that in the settlement where he lived, at Jacob’s River Bluff, at the extremity of the middle island, their former physician, who for many years had practised in the vicinity, had died, and they, therefore, were without medical attention. Having heard my shipmates call me Doctor, and discovering, upon inquiry, that I had dabbled somewhat in physic at home, he made up his mind that I was an expert practitioner, and the idea entered his head to secure me as a resident at the Bluff. He stated the matter to me, assuring me of a remunerative practice, and, as a further inducement offered me one of his daughters as a wife. He represented her as a beautiful half-caste girl--and I found, upon inquiry, that he did her but justice. I was both amused and surprised at the ardor with which he urged the matter, and did not give him a final answer, wishing to draw him out. The old fellow thought that he had me safe, when I deemed it time to put a stop to it, and informed him that my engagements to the owners of our ship were of so urgent a nature that I could not leave without the captain’s full consent. He assured me that there would be no difficulty about that, if I would but give _my_ consent to the matter; he would stow me away so that no one would be able to find me, and at the end of their cruise carry me to the Bluff. Of course I could not consent to this, although every time he renewed his solicitations, he enjoined on me to remember the gal. I certainly should have liked to have formed an acquaintance with her, but I had too many ties at home to forget and forsake my country. This old fellow was an English man-of-war’s man who had deserted from his ship in the early days of the settlement of the island, and marrying a native woman, had reared a family of handsome and interesting children. His code of morals was not of the highest standard, neither was his sense of duty as a parent, or he would not have wished to dispose of his daughter so summarily without her consent; but then he may have been fully acquainted with her wishes, and I was assured that these girls consider it as a great honor to secure an American husband. In proof of this I will relate the adventures of a townsman of mine. He sailed from New Bedford in a whaler, deserted at Bravo, one of the Cape De Verde Islands, contracted some sort of a marriage with one of the Portuguese girls there, became tired of her, and shipped aboard