s, and various other appearances of civilization. At Goboto mail
is received, bills are paid, and newspapers, rarely more than five weeks
old, are accessible; for the little island, belted with its coral reefs,
affords safe anchorage, is the steamer port of call, and serves as the
distributing point for the whole wide-scattered group.

Life at Goboto is heated, unhealthy, and lurid, and for its size it
asserts the distinction of more cases of acute alcoholism than any other
spot in the world. Guvutu, over in the Solomons, claims that it drinks
between drinks. Goboto does not deny this. It merely states, in passing,
that in the Goboton chronology no such interval of time is known. It
also points out its import statistics, which show a far larger per
capita consumption of spiritous liquors. Guvutu explains this on the
basis that Goboto does a larger business and has more visitors. Goboto
retorts that its resident population is smaller and that its visitors
are thirstier. And the discussion goes on interminably, principally
because of the fact that the disputants do not live long enough to
settle it.

Goboto is not large. The island is only a quarter of a mile in diameter,
and on it are situated an admiralty coal-shed (where a few tons of coal
have lain untouched for twenty years), the barracks for a handful of
black labourers, a big store and warehouse with sheet-iron roofs, and a
bungalow inhabited by the manager and his two clerks. They are the white
population. An average of one man out of the three is always to be found
down with fever. The job at Goboto is a hard one. It is the policy of
the company to treat its patrons well, as invading companies have found
out, and it is the task of the manager and clerks to do the treating.
Throughout the year traders and recruiters arrive from far, dry cruises,
and planters from equally distant and dry shores, bringing with them
magnificent thirsts. Goboto is the mecca of sprees, and when they have
spread they go back to their schooners and plantations to recuperate.

Some of the less hardy require as much as six months between visits. But
for the manager and his assistants there are no such intervals. They are
on the spot, and week by week, blown in by monsoon or southeast
trade, the schooners come to anchor, cargo'd with copra, ivory nuts,
pearl-shell, hawksbill turtle, and thirst.

It is a very hard job at Goboto. That is why the pay is twice that on
other stations, and tha