except the teachers the missionaries had stationed
here; all the others were genuine aborigines, who managed their boats
admirably, and came hurrying on board, eager to begin bartering.

The natives here have a bad reputation, and are supposed to be
particularly dangerous, because they never stir from home without
their poisoned arrows. A missionary had recently been forced to leave
the island, after having been besieged by the natives for several
days. But it would seem that they are not hostile unless one of their
many intricate laws and customs is violated, which may happen easily
enough to anyone unacquainted with their habits.

I took up my quarters with the only white man in the place, a Mr. M.,
who managed a cocoa-nut plantation for an Australian company with
boys from the Solomons. My first task was to find servants, as none
had dared accompany me from the New Hebrides to the ill-famed Santa
Cruz Islands. Through his coprah trade Mr. M. knew the people well,
and by his help I soon found two boys who had some vague notion
of biche la mar, real savages, who served me well in a childish,
playful way. They were always jolly, and although they seemed to
look upon what they did for me rather as a kindness than a duty, we
got along fairly well. When it became known that my service implied
good food and little work, many others applied, but I only chose one
young fellow, probably the most perfect specimen of a man I have
ever seen. He kept himself scrupulously clean, and in his quiet,
even behaviour there was something that distinguished him from all
the rest. It is difficult to put the beauty of a human body into
words; I can only say that he was of symmetrical build, with a deep
chest and well-developed limbs, but without the great muscles that
would have given him the coarse aspect of an athlete. His greatest
charm was in the grace of his movements and the natural nobility
of his attitudes and his walk; for he moved as lightly and daintily
as a deer, and it was a constant pleasure, while walking behind him
during our marches through the forest, to admire his elastic gait,
the play of his muscles and the elegant ease with which he threaded
the thicket. I tried to take some photographs of him, but without
great success, owing to technical difficulties; besides, the face had
to be hidden as much as possible, as to a European eye the natives'
faces often seem to have a brutal expression. The men of Santa Cruz,
too, wea