at a time when the heat, which was intense while the Nelson was on the coast, was not likely to be very trying to the men.  The water of the harbour lay placid as a lake, with the ships of war far out from the shore, and here and there native canoes moving slowly along or resting idly on the surface; and the hills and valleys were green and shaded from the sun, and wore that refreshing appearance which is notable when the trees and the grass have been bathed in dew, and when the sun’s rays are strong enough only to make the dewdrops sparkle, and to deepen the shadows in the recesses where the sunlight has not yet penetrated.

The boats conveying the officers and men to the shore, each flying the white ensign, imparted life and colour to the scene upon the water, and nothing could be more picturesque and beautiful than the view on shore, where the houses of the native villages bordering the beach, with their brown occupants gazing in amazement on what was taking place before them, were shaded by a grove of cocoanut palms, the refreshing dark green fronds being rivalled only by the lighter green of the plantations of the banana trees on the sides of the hills, which, rising high above the village, were, notwithstanding the evidence of cultivation by the natives, and the existence of the little mission settlement, dressed in almost all their native loveliness, and robed in delicately-tinted morning mists.

Inside the enclosed ground stood the mission house, and on a spot commanding a view of almost the entire harbour was the flagstaff which was now to display the flag hoisted with the authority of the Queen by Commodore Erskine; and it was around this flagstaff that the troops were drawn up in a hollow square, the men facing inwards, with the officers to the front, and the Commodore and his suite standing with the missionaries and Mr. Chester on the verandah of the mission house.  The native chiefs who had been on board the Nelson were seated in a picturesque group on the ground immediately in front of the Commodore; and other natives and a few white spectators stood in a crowd at the rear of the blue-jackets.  The only representative of English women present was Mrs. Lawes, wife of the Rev. W.G.  Lawes, who was accommodated with a chair, and sat near the Commodore and the officers on either side of him.

Immediately the blue-jackets had landed they were marched up the hill to the mission compound, but the marines remained upon the beach until the Commodore landed, when they presented arms, and afterwards, with bayonets fixed, marched with the band to join the bluejackets in front of the mission house.

On the Commodore appearing before the troops they presented arms, and he then read the following proclamation: 

     “PROCLAMATION.

“Proclamation on behalf of her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India, establishing a Protectorate of Her Most Gracious Majesty over a portion of New Guinea, and the Islands adjacent thereto.

“To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: