ll the new houses of the Messrs. Thomas at Hog Harbour
had been ruined.

Times had been troublous in other respects at Talamacco; the natives,
especially the Christians, were fighting, and one Sunday they were
all ready, looking very fierce, to attack each other with clubs and
other weapons, only neither side dared to begin. I asked them to do
the fighting out in the open, so that I could take a picture of it,
and this cooled them down considerably. They sat down and began a
long palaver, which ended in nothing at all, and, indeed, no one
really knew what had started the excitement.

In spite of the supercargo's announcement that the steamer would
arrive on the twentieth, she did not come till the first of the
following month. This kept me constantly on the look out and ready
for departure, and unable to do anything of importance. At last we
sailed, touching the Banks Islands on our route; and after enjoying
a few days of civilization on board, I went ashore at Tassimaloun,
on the south-west corner of Santo, where I had the pleasure of being
Mr. C.'s guest. My object there was to follow the traces of the pygmy
population, but as the natives mostly live inland, and only rarely come
to the coast, I had to go in search of them. At that time I was often
ill with fever, and could not do as much as I could have wished. Once
I tried to reach the highest mountain of the islands, Santo Peak,
but my guides from the mission village of Vualappa led me for ten
days through most uninteresting country and an unfriendly population
without even bringing me to the foot of the mountain. I had several
unpleasant encounters with the natives, during one of which I fully
expected to be murdered, and when our provisions were exhausted we had
to return to the coast. But every time I saw the tall pyramid of Santo
Peak rising above the lower hills I longed to be the first European
to set foot on it, and I tried it at last from the Tassiriki side.

After long consultations with the natives, I at last found two men
who were willing to guide me to the mountain. I decided to give up
all other plans, and to take nothing with me but what was strictly
necessary. On the second day we climbed a hill which my guides insisted
was the Peak, the highest point of the island. I pointed out a higher
summit, but they said that we would never get up there before noon,
and, indeed, they did everything they could to delay our advance,
by following wrong trails an