d Tati
was desirous of entertaining us at one of his estates about two
hours' journey distant.

On our arrival, and as soon as the stones were heated for our meal,
several of the natives out of the neighbouring huts hastened to
profit by the opportunity to cook their provisions as well, bringing
with them fish, pieces of pork, bread-fruit, plantains, and so on.
The fish and meat were enveloped in large leaves. For our use,
besides bread-fruit and fish, there was a turtle weighing perhaps
more than twenty pounds. The repast was held in a hut, to which the
whole neighbourhood also came, and forming themselves into groups a
little on one side of us principal guests, eat the provisions they
had brought with them. Each person had a cocoa-nut shell full of
miti before him; into this he first threw every morsel and took it
out again with his hand, and then what remained of the miti was
drunk at the end of the meal. We had each of us a fresh cocoa-nut
with a hole bored in it, containing at least a pint of clear, sweet-
tasting water. This is erroneously termed by us "Milk," but it only
becomes thick and milky when the cocoa-nut is very stale, in which
condition it is never eaten in these islands.

Tati, with his family, remained here, while we proceeded to Papara,
an hour's walk. The road was delightful, leading mostly through
thick groves of fruit-trees; but it would not suit a person with a
tendency to hydrophobia, for we were obliged to wade through more
than half a dozen streams and brooks.

At Papara, Monsieur --- possessed some landed property, with a
little wooden four-roomed house, in which he was kind enough to give
me a lodging.

We here heard of the death of one of Tati's sons, of which he
numbered twenty-one. He had been dead three days, and his friends
were awaiting Tati to pay the last honours to the deceased. I had
intended to make an excursion to the Lake Vaihiria, but deferred
doing so, in order to be present at the burial. On the following
morning, 6th May, I paid a visit to the hut of the deceased.
Monsieur --- gave me a new handkerchief to take with me as a
present--a relic of the old superstition which the people of this
island have introduced into Christianity. These presents are
supposed to calm the soul of the deceased. The corpse was lying in
a narrow coffin, upon a low bier, both of which were covered with a
white pall. Before the bier were hung two straw mats, on which were
spread t