d religion, and
burning his god, who, she declared, was now come to be avenged of them.
'Get up and pray! get up and pray!' she cried. The chief arose, and, on
opening his eyes, beheld the same glaring lights, and heard the same
ominous sound. Impelled by the extreme urgency of the case, he
commenced, with all possible vehemence, to vociferate the alphabet, as a
prayer to God to deliver them from the vengeance of Satan! On hearing
this, the cat, as much alarmed as themselves, fled precipitately away,
leaving the chief and his wife congratulating themselves on the efficacy
of their prayer."

We were much diverted with this anecdote, which the teacher related in
English so good, that we certainly could not have supposed him a native
but for the colour of his face and the foreign accent in his tone. Next
day we walked out with this interesting man, and were much entertained
and instructed by his conversation, as we rambled through the cool shady
groves of bananas, citrons, limes, and other trees, or sauntered among
the cottages of the natives, and watched them while they laboured
diligently in the taro beds, or manufactured the tapa or native cloth. To
some of these Jack put questions through the medium of the missionary;
and the replies were such as to surprise us at the extent of their
knowledge. Indeed, Peterkin very truly remarked that "they seemed to
know a considerable deal more than Jack himself!"

Among other pieces of interesting information that we obtained was the
following, in regard to coral formations:--

"The islands of the Pacific," said our friend, "are of three different
kinds or classes. Those of the first class are volcanic, mountainous,
and wild; some shooting their jagged peaks into the clouds at an
elevation of ten and fifteen thousand feet. Those of the second class
are of crystalized limestone, and vary in height from one hundred to five
hundred feet. The hills on these are not so wild or broken as those of
the first class, but are richly clothed with vegetation, and very
beautiful. I have no doubt that the Coral Island on which you were
wrecked was one of this class. They are supposed to have been upheaved
from the bottom of the sea by volcanic agency, but they are not
themselves volcanic in their nature, neither are they of coral formation.
Those of the third class are the low coralline islands usually having
lagoons of water in their midst; they are very numerous.

"As to the mann