my stay
here, among them a dove of intense orange colour, one of the most
striking birds I have ever seen. Plant life here was exceedingly
beautiful and interesting, especially high up in the mountains,
palms, _pandanus,_ cycads, crotons, _acalyphas, loranths,_ aroids,
_freycinetias,_ ferns and orchids being strongly represented, and
among the latter may be mentioned a fine orange _dendrobium_ and a pink
_calanthe._ I found in flower a celebrated creeper, which Ratu Lala had
told me to look out for. It had very showy red, white and blue flowers,
and in the old days Ratu Lala told me that the Tongan people would
come over in their canoes all the way from the Tonga Islands, nearly
four hundred miles away, simply to get this flower for their dances,
and when gathered, it would last a very long time without fading. I
tried to learn the traditions about this flower, but Ratu Lala either
did not know of any or else he was not anxious to tell me about them.

The coastal natives, like most South Sea Islanders, were splendid
swimmers, but, so far as I was concerned, it was dangerous work bathing
in the sea here, as man-eating sharks were very numerous, and during my
stay I saw a Fijian carried ashore with both his legs bitten clean off.

Usually, when out on expeditions, we occupied the "Buli's" hut and
lived on the fat of the land. At meal times quite a procession of men
and women, glistening all over with coconut oil, would enter our hut
bearing all sorts of native food, including fish in great variety,
yams, octopus, turtle, sucking-pig, chicken, prawns, etc. They were
brought in on banana and other large leaves, and we, of course, ate
them with our fingers. Good as the food undoubtedly was, I was always
glad when the meal was over, as it is very far from comfortable to
sit with your legs doubled up under you. Afterwards I could hardly
stand up straight, owing to cramp. I found it especially trying in
Samoa, where one had to sit in this manner for hours during feasts,
"kava"-drinking and "siva-sivas" (dances). Sometimes a glistening
damsel would fan us with a large fan made out of the leaf of a fan
palm, [6] which at times got rather in the way. I never got waited
on better in my life. Directly I had finished one course a dozen
girls were ready to hand me other dishes, and when I wanted a drink
a girl immediately handed me a cup made out of the half-shell of a
coconut filled with a kind of soup. We generally had an audience