ur feet, and the heat became most oppressive. We were glad to reach
the crater, though it was a gloomy and colourless desert, in the
midst of which a large grey pool boiled and bubbled. In front was a
deep crevice in the crater wall, and a cloud of steam hid whatever
was in it; yet we felt as though something frightful must be going
on there. Above this gloomy scene stretched a sky of serenest blue,
and we had a glimpse of the coast, with its little islands bathing
in the sapphire sea.

Next day we left for Gaua. Unhappily the captain met friends, and
celebrated with them to such an extent that he was no longer to be
relied on, which was all the more unpleasant as the weather was of
the dirtiest, and the barometer presaged another cyclone. After two
days it cleared up a little; I went ashore at the west point of Gaua,
where the launch was to pick me up again two days later, as I meant to
visit the interior while the others went to buy coprah. Even now the
wind and the swell from the north-west were increasing suspiciously,
and after I had spent a rainy night in a village off the shore, I
saw the launch race eastward along the coast, evidently trying to
make a safe anchorage, with the storm blowing violent squalls and
the sea very high.

On my way inland I still found the paths obstructed by fallen trees
from the last cyclone, while nearly all the cocoa-nut palms had lost
their nuts. And again the storm raged in the forest, and the rain
fell in torrents.

I was anxious to buy statues of tree-fern wood; they are frequently
to be seen here, standing along a terrace or wall near the gamal, and
seem not so much images of ancestors, as signs of rank and wealth. The
caste may be recognized by the number of pigs' jaws carved on the
statues. Often the artist first makes a drawing of the statue in
red, white and black paint on a board; and these same designs are
used as patterns for tattooing, as well as on ear-sticks and other
objects. Female statues are common, which is an unusual thing.

I obtained a good number of skulls, which were thrown into the roots
of a fig tree, where I was allowed to pick them up as I pleased.

The Suque is supposed to have originated here; and here certainly it
has produced its greatest monuments, large altar-like walls, dams and
ramparts. The gamals, too, are always on a foundation of masonry,
and on either side there are high pedestals on which the pigs are
sacrificed. Among the stones used f