aboard his ship on a short voyage from Port Jackson to Calcutta, some years before, then flashed across the captain's mind. A few minutes' further conversation convinced him that this was the man; but how was he to account for the strange position in which he found him—his tattooed skin, his almost royal authority in the country? Questions of this kind were readily answered; and before he had left, Captain Robins had learned the strange, romantic story of the English sailor.
George Bruce was born of respectable English parents, and had received what in those days was considered a good education. He had run away to sea early in life, and had several times sailed round the world without abating anything of his love of roving and maritime adventure. He was one of the crew which accompanied the heroic Flinders in his early explorations of the coast of Australia. It happened that while Bruce, at this period, was stationed at Port Jackson, a native king of New Zealand arrived at that colony on a visit. Being seized with a dangerous illness, a British vessel was appointed to convey him home, and it happened that Brace being known as a well-educated and a trustworthy man, was deputed to wait on him on the voyage. Pleased with his attendant, the king, when they had arrived at their destination, asked permission for Bruce to remain, to which the captain of the ship consented. Bruce rose rapidly in the favour of the Maori sovereign; and on his part seemed to have acquired a liking for the country, and for the manners and habits of its people.
It is well known that the Maories have at all times displayed so great an aptitude for civilized life as hardly
