ired of life and ask to be killed.

What has preserved the old customs so well on Vao is the aversion of
the natives to plantation work. But one day, while I was there, a ship
rode at anchor off the coast, and a member of the French survey party
landed, collected all the men on the beach, and told them that unless
there were thirty men on board that evening, the whole tribe would
be driven out of the island, as the island belonged to the French
company. This was, to say the least, extremely doubtful; moreover,
it would never have been feasible to expropriate the natives in this
summary way. They were furious, but, unprotected as they were, they
had to obey, and in the evening nearly all the young men assembled
on the beach and were taken away in whale-boats, disappearing in the
mist and darkness of the night. The old men and the women remained
behind, crying loudly, so that the terrible wailing sounded sadly
over the sea. Even to the mere spectator it was a tragic moment when
the tribe was thus orphaned of its best men, and one could not help
being revolted by the whole proceeding. It was not womanish pity for
the men who were taken off to work, but regret for the consequent
disappearance of immemorial forms of tribal life. Next day the
beach was empty. Old men and women crossed over to the yam-fields,
the little children played as usual, but the gay shouts were silent,
the beautiful, brown, supple-bodied young men were gone, and I no
longer felt the joy of living which had been Vao's greatest charm. The
old men were sulky and sad, and spoke of leaving Vao for good and
settling somewhere far inland. It is not surprising that the whole
race has lost the will to live, and that children are considered an
undesirable gift, of which one would rather be rid. What hopelessness
lies in the words I once heard a woman of Vao say: "Why should we
have any more children? Since the white man came they all die." And
die they certainly do. Regions that once swarmed with people are now
lonely; where, ten years ago, there were large villages, we find the
desert bush, and in some districts the population has decreased by
one-third in the last seven years. In fifteen years the native race
will have practically disappeared.

CHAPTER VI

PORT OLRY AND A "SING-SING"

The event just described reduced my chance of finding servants in Vao
to a minimum, as all the able-bodied young men had been taken away. I
therefore sailed with t