father's valued clerk, Thomas Laidlaw, who was long in the Legislative
Council of New South Wales and the leading man in the town of Yass.
"Honest Torn of Yass" was his soubriquet. Bound for Melbourne there
were Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, of Melrose, and Charles Williamson, from
Hawick, who founded a great business house in Collins Street. There were
Langs from Selkirk, and McHaffies, who became pastoralists. Our next
cabin mate, who brougut out a horse, had the Richmond punt when there
was no bridge there. All the young men were reading a thick book
brought out by the Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge about sheep,
but they could dance in the evenings to the strains of Mr. Duncan's
violin, and although I was not 14, I was in request as a partner, as
ladies were scarce. Jessie Spence and Eliza Disher, who were grown up,
were the belles of the Palmyra. Of all the passengers in the ship the
young doctor, John Logan Campbell, has had the most distinguished
career. Next to Sir George Grey he has had most to do with the
development of New Zealand. He is now called the Grand Old Man of
Auckland. He had his twenty-first birthday, this experienced surgeon(!)
in the same week as I had my fourteenth, while the Palmyra was
lying off Holdfast Bay (now Glenelg) before we could get to the old
Port Adelaide to discharge. My brother saw him in 1883, but I have not
set eye on him since that week in 1839. We have corresponded frequently
since my brother's death. In his book "Poenama," written for his
children, there is a picture of the Palmyra, with an account of the
voyage and the only sensational incident in it. We had a collision in
the Irish Sea, and our foremast was broken, so that we had to return to
Greenock for repairs, and then obtained the concession of white biscuit
for the second class for one day in the week. Sir John Campbell's gift
of a beautiful park to the citizens of Auckland was made while my
brother John was alive. Just recently he has given money and plans for
building and equipping the first free kindergarten in Auckland--perhaps