Sunday May 8th 1898 HMS Mohawk

Sunday May 8th 1898
Our officers availed themselves of a little shooting,
but the only birds that came across ship' path was

pigeons, in the afternoon the missionaries from the
Southern Cross, came on board bringing with them
twenty of their reformed Natives belonging to different
Islands most of them spoke English very well
having been  to the Mission School on Norfolk Island
which they said they liked very well indeed and
was very sorry to have to leave it, they were now
going back to their own islands to teach their own
people about Civilization & the bible, during the
the afternoon our men went away seineing for the
1st time, but was unsuccessful owing to the seine
getting foul of the coral which the bottom is cover-
ed with.

Seine net fishing - Image linked to Ohio.gov

I wasn't sure if  had correctly read seineing and seine.
Seining is I have discovered a type of large net fishing that is made to hang vertically in the water by weights at the lower edge and floats at the top.

I have discovered another journal at http://anglicanhistory.org/oceania/island_mission1869/25.html when searching for info on Norfolk Island Missionary schoool

Here is an extract mentioned the Schooner Southern Star
[277] CHAPTER XXV. ON Easter Tuesday, 1867, the Southern Cross conveyed the bulk of the Mission School, with the Bishop, Mr. Codrington, and Mr. Bice, from Kohimarama to Norfolk Island. Mr. Palmer had spent the summer there, and Mr. Brooke and Mr. Atkin, with the boys under their charge, had been there for a month; so that when the Bishop arrived there, he found his new station in a fair state of preparation, enclosures and outhouses ready, and all in a state of sufficient forwardness to receive the large party who were there to be lodged.

Here is an image of the Southern Star

The image is linked for another online journal I just discovered
SANTA CRUZ AND THE REEF ISLANDS Described by the Rev. W. C. O'FERRALL, Missionary in Santa Cruz, 1897-1904
http://anglicanhistory.org/oceania/oferrall_santacruz1908/

They are some excellent images here.

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