In the English colony itself there was some difference of opinion as to the credit which Captain Dillon's story was entitled to receive; but the report which that officer had made to the Governor-General of India, quite removed any doubt from the mind of D'Urville. Abandoning, therefore, all further plans with reference to New Zealand, he decided upon proceeding at once in the Astrolabe , in the track of Dillon, to Vanikoro, which he then knew only by the name of Mallicolo.
[Illustration: Natives of Vanikoro. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]
The following is the statement of the circumstances as made by Dillon.
During a stay made by the ship Hunter at the Fiji Islands, three persons, a Prussian named Martin Bushart, his wife, and a Lascar, called Achowlia, were received on board, endea
