with a sufficient wall.  When all was got off that was wanted, boat-loads of mud and sand were brought by Kannakas, and deposited in the cavity.  This was a great work for such a community, though it proceeded faster than, at first, one might have supposed.  The materials were very accessible, and the distances short, which greatly facilitated the labour, though unloading was a task of some gravity.  The walls of the house were got up in about six months after the work was commenced, and the building was roofed; but, though the gardeners were set to work as soon as the stones were out of the cavities, they had not filled more than two acres at the end of the period mentioned.

Determined to make an end of this great work at once, the Abraham was sent over to young Ooroony to ask for assistance.  Glad enough was that chief to grant what was demanded of him, and he came himself, at the head of five hundred men, to aid his friend in finishing this task.  Even this strong body of labourers was busy two months longer, before the governor pronounced the great end accomplished.  Then he dismissed his neighbours with such gifts and pay as sent away everybody contented.  Many persons thought the experiment of bringing so many savages to the Reef somewhat hazardous; but no harm ever came of it.  On the contrary, the intercourse had a good effect, by making the two people better acquainted with each other.  The governor had a great faculty in the management of those wild beings.  He not only kept them in good-humour, but what was far more difficult, he made them work.  They were converted into a sort of Irish for his colony.  It is true, one civilized man could do more than three of the Kannakas, but the number of the last was so large that they accomplished a great deal during their stay.

Nor would the governor have ventured to let such dangerous neighbours into the group, had there not been still more imposing mysteries connected with the Peak, into which they were not initiated.  Even young Ooroony wag kept in ignorance of what was to be found on that dreaded island.  He saw vessels going and coming, knew that the governor often went there, saw strange faces appearing occasionally on the Reef, that were understood to belong to the unknown land, and probably to a people who were much more powerful than those who were in direct communication with the natives.

The governor induced his Kannakas to work by interesting them in the explosions of the blasts, merely to enjoy the pleasure of seeing a cart-load of rock torn from its bed.  One of these men would work at a drill all day, and then carry off the fragments to be placed in the walls, after he had had his sport in this operation of blasting.  They seemed never to tire of the fun, and it was greatly questioned if half as much labour could have been got out of them at any other work, as at this.