Mr. Brooke stayed four days at Florida; and came away with three former pupils, and four new ones, one of them grown up, a relative of the leading man of the island.  Taroniara was the only Bauro scholar brought away this time; but so many were taken from Mota that the whole party numbered thirty-seven, seven of them girls, all betrothed to one or other of the lads.  The entire colony at St. Barnabas, including English, was thus raised to seventy, when the ’Southern Cross’ returned thither in August.  On the 23rd, Bishop Patteson writes:—­

’I wish you could see this place and the view from this room.  I have only got into it within this hour.  The carpenters are just out of it.  You know that I left Palmer here about eleven months ago, on the return from that island voyage.  He had sixteen lads with him, of whom eleven were good stout fellows.

’He did work wonderfully.  The place I chose for the site of the station is about three miles from the settlement—­the town, as the people call it.  If you have a map of the island, you will see Longridge on the western part of it.  Follow on the principal road, which goes on beyond Longridge in a N. and NW. direction, and about a mile beyond Longridge is our station.  The top of Mount Pitt is nearly opposite our houses, of which two are now habitable, though not finished.  The third, which is the house at Kohimarama which I had for one year, and in which Sir W. and Lady Martin spent ten days, will be begun on Monday next, I hope.  The labour of getting all these things from New Zealand and then landing them (for there is no harbour), and then carting them up here (for there are no really good horses here, but the two I bought and sent down), was very considerable.  Palmer and his boys worked admirably.  He was industrious indeed.  He and they lived at first in a little cottage, about three-quarters of a mile from our place, i.e., about a quarter of a mile from Longridge.  During the first month, while they had no cart or horses as yet (for I had to send them down from Auckland), they fenced in some lands (the wire for which I had bought at Sydney, and a man-of-war brought it hither), planted yams (which grow excellently, such a crop never was seen here) and sweet potatoes, melons, vegetables, &c.  Meanwhile, the timber for the houses was being sent as I had opportunity, a large quantity having been already taken to Norfolk Island in a man-of-war.  Luckily, timber was selling very cheap at Auckland.

’After this first month, Palmer set to work at house building.  He built entirely by himself, save the chimney and some part of the shingling (wooden roofing).  As yet, no rooms have any ceiling or lining; they might by innocent people be thought to resemble barns, but they are weather-proof, strong, and answer all present purposes.  The verandah, about 8 feet broad, is another great room really.