Friday May 6th 1898 HMS Mohawk

May 6th Fri
At 5am we got up anchor and proceeded
to the Florida Islands a distance of 80 miles
We arrived in the afternoon and anchored
off the island of Gavatua here we was
surrounded by canoes trading in the same

Solomon Island warriors, armed with spears, aboard an ornamented war canoe (1895)
Linked from Wikipedia

manner, only some having parrots, some of
the natives here would ask for money, but we
found out that the missionaries had put
them up to ask for it, so that they could make
them presents of it instead of there native
produce. The natives seems very friendly some

(Florida islands also known as Nggela Islands)
(Gavatua presumed to be Gavutu)

speaking a few words of broken English their
only covering being a Tshafed Loin cloth wear-
ing bone rings in their ears and round their
arms & ankles their hair being being very long and Budy?
some having it nearly white which is cause by
it being plasticised with lime, which takes all
the colour out of it for a time, when the lime is
dry they brush it out with a rough kind of
brush made out of coconut fibre, the men
are the only ones that show themselves they
keep all their wifes & children in the bush
for which the island are very thick indeed
a walk in most part being impossible in
the thickest of the bush they build their
huts living in small numbers, shortly after
we arrived we were joined by a missionary
Schooner the Southern Cross being then
on a visit around the islands she anchor-
ed close alongside of us, the trading station
on Gavatua is owned by a couple of traders

Newman and Alison keeping 3 Schooners and having
several Niggers working for them, they came
on board and gave us a lot of information about
the Solomon Islands in General, on the Island
Admiralty has 1000 tons of coal stored
under the charge of the traders for the use
of the Men of war doing duty around the islands
that was mostly our reason for visiting this
island.

Source Wikipedia
The Nggela Islands, also known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands, a state in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Gavutu is a small islet in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands, some 500 metres (550 yards) in length. It is one of the Nggela Islands.
Coordinates: 009°07′00″S 160°11′20″E