hundred
dusky-hued throats.

III

A blazing, tropic sun shone in mid-heaven upon the motionless waters of
the deep, land-locked bay in which the Ceres lay, with top-mast struck
and awnings spread fore and aft. A quarter of a mile away was the beach,
girdled with its thick belt of coco-palms whose fronds hung limp and hot
in the windless air as if gasping for breath. Here and there, among
the long line of white, lime-washed canoes, drawn up on the sand,
snowy white and blue cranes stalked to and fro seeking for the small
thin-shelled soldier crabs burrowing under the loose _debris_ of leaves
and fallen palm-branches to escape the heat.

A few yards back from the level of high-water mark clustered the houses
of the native village, built on both sides of the bright, fast-flowing
stream which here, as it debouched into the sea, was wide and shallow,
showing a bottom composed of rounded black stones alternating with rocky
bars. Along the grassless banks, worn smooth by the constant tread of
naked feet, grew tall many-hued crotons, planted and carefully tended
by their native owners, and shielded from the rays of the sun by the
ever-present coco-palms. From either side of the bank, looking westward
towards the forest, there was a clear stretch of water half a mile in
length, then the river was hidden from view, for in its course from the
mountains through the heavily-jungled littoral it took many bends and
twists, sometimes running swiftly over rocky, gravelly beds, sometimes
flowing noiselessly through deep, muddy-bottomed pools and dank, steamy
swamps, the haunt of the silent, dreaded alligator.

At the head of the straight stretch of water of which I have spoken
there was on the left-hand bank of the river an open grassy sward,
surrounded by clumps of areca and coco-palms, and in the centre stood
a large house, built by native hands, but showing by various external
signs that it was tenanted by people other than the wild inhabitants of
the island. Just in front of the house, and surrounded by a number of
canoes, the boat belonging to the _Ceres_ was moored to the bank,
and under a long open-sided, palm-thatched shed, were a number of
brown-skinned naked savages, some lying sleeping, others squatting on
their hams, energetically chewing betel nut.

As they talked and chewed and spat out the scarlet juice through their
hideous red lips and coaly black teeth, a canoe, paddled by two natives
and steered by Mallet,