fore the arrival of a steamer, making these
last days very busy ones everywhere. It is fortunate for the planters
that the native labourers are not yet organized and do not insist on
an eight-hour day. As it was, Mr. Ch. had to leave more than half his
crop to rot in the fields, a heavy rain having delayed the harvesting.

The humidity at the Segond Channel is exceptionally great. As we
stood on the fine coral sand that forms the shores of the channel,
our clothes were damp with the rain from the weeds and shrubs which
we had passed through while stumbling through the plantation. The
steel-grey sea quivers, sleepy and pulpy looking; in front of us,
in a grey mist, lies the flat island of Aore, the air smells mouldy,
and brown rainclouds roll over the wall of primeval forest surrounding
the clearing on three sides. The atmosphere is heavy, and a fine
spray floats in the air and covers everything with moisture. Knives
rust in one's pocket, matches refuse to light, tobacco is like a
sponge and paper like a rag. It had been like this for three months;
no wonder malarial fever raged among the white population. Mr. Ch.,
after only one year's sojourn here, looked like a very sick man;
he was frightfully thin and pale and very nervous; so was his wife,
a delicate lady of good French family. She did the hard work of a
planter's wife with admirable courage, and, while she had never taken
an active part in housekeeping in France, here she was standing all
day long behind a smoky kitchen fire, cooking or washing dishes,
assisted only by a very incapable and unsophisticated native woman.

On our return to the house, which lies about 200 metres inland, we
found this black lady occupied with the extremely hard and puzzling
task of laying the table. It seemed to give her the greatest trouble,
and the deep distrust with which she handled the plates found eloquent
expression in queer sighs and mysterious exclamations in her native
tongue, in resigned shakes of the head and emphatic smacking of the
lips. She was a crooked bush-woman from the north of Malekula, where
the people, especially the women, are unusually ugly and savage. A
low forehead, small, deep-set eyes, and a snout-like mouth gave
her a very animal look; yet she showed human feeling, and nursed
a shrieking and howling orphan all day long with the most tender
care. Her little head was shaved and two upper teeth broken out as
a sign of matrimony, so she certainly was no beaut