o the sea to bathe in a little
sheltered cove, almost surrounded by high rocks, where there was no
danger of a visit from a shark. Here my father had built a small hut in
which Maud and I might dress. The native girls dispensed with any such
accommodation, and while we were content to swim about in the bay, they
would boldly strike out a long distance from the land. Even when the
wind blew strong on the shore, and the surf came rolling in, they would
dash through it, now diving under a huge breaker, now rising to its
foaming summit, and playing about as securely as if they were on the dry
land.

Two mornings after the chief had paid us a visit we went down as usual
to bathe, when we saw a large fleet of canoes, propelled by paddles,
gliding over the smooth water of the lagoon towards the passage which
communicated with the open sea. On first seeing them we were about to
hurry home, fearing that they might be enemies, but Lisele quieted our
alarm, by telling us that they were her father's fleet, starting on his
proposed expedition. They were curious looking vessels. Each consisted
of two long narrow canoes placed side by side, but at some distance from
each other, and united by strong beams, on which a platform or stage was
erected, thus making one vessel. The rowers sat with long paddles on
either side, while on the deck stood the warriors in their war-paint and
feathers, and flourishing their lances and whirling their clubs,
inciting each other to the deeds of valour, or rather of cruelty, which
they intended to perform. Instead of a mast in the centre, there was a
triangle with the ends fixed on either side, on which the mat-formed
sail extended on a long yard ready to be hoisted.

As they glided by the sound of the wild shouts and shrieks they uttered
reached our ears.

"May my poor father be protected," said Lisele to me, as we watched
them. "Once I should have thought what we see very fine, and should
have sung and clapped my hands with joy. Now that I know how wicked it
is to go and fight and kill other human beings, I feel inclined to weep
with sorrow."

"We must pray for your father, Lisele," I said, "that God will turn his
heart and make him see the crime of warfare."

"Yes, yes; that is my comfort," she answered.

When the canoes reached the outlet from the lagoon the sails were
hoisted, and at a rapid rate they glided away over the ocean, while
Lisele, Maud, and I, knelt down on the sand and