The capital to be raised should not be
less than fifty thousand pounds, and might be either in five or ten pound
shares as hereafter determined. This should be amply sufficient for the
expenses of an experimental voyage.
When the money had been subscribed, it would be our duty to charter a
steamer of some twelve or fourteen hundred tons burden, and with
accommodation for a cargo of steerage passengers. She should carry two
or three guns in case of her being attacked by savages at the mouth of
the river. Boats of considerable size should be also provided, and I
think it would be desirable that these also should carry two or three six-
pounders. The ship should be taken up the river as far as was considered
safe, and a picked party should then ascend in the boats. The presence
both of Arowhena and myself would be necessary at this stage, inasmuch as
our knowledge of the language would disarm suspicion, and facilitate
negotiations.
We should begin by representing the advantages afforded to labour in the
colony of Queensland, and point out to the Erewhonians that by emigrating
thither, they would be able to amass, each and all of them, enormous
fortunes--a fact which would be easily provable by a reference to
statistics.
Pages:
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351