ing for it. These
fall into the hands of the big Noumea companies, and have the greatest
trouble in getting out of debt. Not only do these firms lend money
at exorbitant interest, but they stipulate that the planter will sell
them all his produce and buy whatever he needs from them, and as they
fix prices as they please, their returns are said to reach 30 per cent.

Besides these two kinds of French settlers, there is a third, which
comes from the penitentiary in Noumea or its neighbourhood. We shall
meet specimens of these in the following pages.

After having duly admired the plantation of Mr. R.--he proved himself
a real peasant, knew every plant by name, and was constantly stopping
to pick a dead leaf or prune a shoot--we continued our journey and
arrived at Tangoa. Tangoa is a small island, on which the Presbyterian
mission has established a central school for the more intelligent
of the natives of the whole group, where they may be trained as
teachers. The exterior of this school looks most comfortable. One
half of the island is cleared and covered with a green lawn, one
part is pasture for good-looking cattle, the other is a park in which
nestle the cottages of the teachers,--the whole looks like an English
country-seat. At some distance is a neatly built, well-kept village
for the native pupils. I presented an introduction to the director. He
seemed to think my endeavours extremely funny, asked if I was looking
for the missing link, etc., so that I took a speedy leave.

We spent a few lazy days on board the little cutter; the natives would
not come down from their villages, in spite of frequent explosions of
dynamite cartridges, the usual signal of recruiters to announce their
arrival to the natives. It rained a good deal, and there was not much
to do but to loaf on the beach. Here, one day, I saw an interesting
method of fishing by poisoning the water, which is practised in many
places. At low tide the natives rub a certain fruit on the stones of
the reef, the juice mixes with the water in the pools and poisons
the fish, so that after a short while they float senseless on the
surface and may easily be caught.

After a few days I was anxious to return to the Segond Channel,
as I expected the arrival of the English steamer, which I wanted to
meet. I could not find any guide, and the cutter was to stay for some
days longer, so I decided to go alone; the distance was only about
15 km., and I thought that with t