Cleared Outwards.

October 28—Sea Breeze, 70 tons, Fernandez, for Auckland, with 26 head cattle, 15 cwt. honey, 2 passengers.

November 3—Sylph, 70 tons, Norris. for Auckland, with 25 head cattle, 24 sheep, 4 tons kauri gum, 5 kegs tobacco, 7 passengers.

November 7—Sea Breeze, 70 tons, Fernandez, for Auckland, with 25 head cattle, 1 dog cart, 1 passenger.

Observe the relative order of the items carried along the coast by those old-time schooners, the Sylph and Sea Breeze. The passengers were very small beer indeed; they not only came after the cattle in the list, but after the kauri gum, the honey, and the dogcart.

I knew those two skippers, Gregory Norris and Tom Fernandez, in their later years; they were perfect sailormen, with a taste for a bit of sport, and many a time they cracked on every bit of sail and some more, racing their smart little craft in and out of Auckland harbour. There was stuff for a book in Captain Fernandez's adventures in the South Sea Islands.