ntly in
close confinement.

"Moreover," continued Jack, "I find that she belongs to one of the Samoan
Islands, where Christianity had been introduced long before her capture
by the heathens of a neighbouring island; and the very day after she was
taken, she was to have joined the church which had been planted there by
that excellent body, the London Missionary Society. The teacher tells
me, too, that the poor girl has fallen in love with a Christian chief,
who lives on an island some fifty miles or so to the south of this one,
and that she is meditating a desperate attempt at escape. So, you see,
we have come in the nick of time. I fancy that this chief is the fellow
whom you heard of, Ralph, at the Island of Emo. Besides all this, the
heathen savages are at war among themselves, and there's to be a battle
fought the day after to-morrow, in which the principal leader is Tararo;
so that we'll not be able to commence our negotiations with the rascally
chief till the day after."

The village off which we anchored was beautifully situated at the head of
a small bay, from the margin of which trees of every description peculiar
to the tropics rose in the richest luxuriance to the summit of a hilly
ridge, which was the line of demarcation between the possessions of the
Christians and those of the neighbouring heathen chief.

The site of the settlement was an extensive plot of flat land, stretching
in a gentle slope from the sea to the mountain. The cottages stood
several hundred yards from the beach, and were protected from the glare
of the sea by the rich foliage of rows of large Barringtonia and other
trees, which girt the shore. The village was about a mile in length, and
perfectly straight, with a wide road down the middle, on either side of
which were rows of the tufted-topped ti tree, whose delicate and
beautiful blossoms, hanging beneath their plume-crested tops, added
richness to the scene. The cottages of the natives were built beneath
these trees, and were kept in the most excellent order, each having a
little garden in front, tastefully laid out and planted, while the walks
were covered with black and white pebbles.

Every house had doors and Venetian windows, painted partly with lamp
black made from the candle-nut, and partly with red ochre, which
contrasted powerfully with the dazzling coral lime that covered the
walls. On a prominent position stood a handsome church, which was quite
a curiosity in its