Messrs.
Huxley and Brierly,* the latter having laid down his rifle, were allowed
to approach and parley. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Simpson and I remained
behind watching the natives who quickly surrounded the two others,
offering tortoise-shell, green plantains, and other things for barter,
and hustling them in no very ceremonious way while intent upon sketching,
and having to keep their subjects in good humour by treating them to
sundry scraps of extempore melodramatic performance. Newcomers were
continually making their appearance, and all the party were now suddenly
observed to have furnished themselves with spears, none of which had been
seen at first, and which had probably been concealed among the long grass
at the spot to which they had led us. These weapons are made of polished
coconut-wood, eight to ten feet long, sharp at each end, and beautifully
balanced, the thickest part being two-fifths of the distance from the
point; one end was usually ornamented with a narrow strip of palm leaf,
fluttering in the breeze like a pennon as usually carried. One man was
furnished with a two-edged carved and painted instrument like a sword.
Most of these people had their face daubed over with broad streaks of
charcoal down the centre and round the eyes. Occasionally variegated with
white, giving them a most forbidding aspect. At length a live pig was
brought down from the village, slung on a pole, and was purchased for a
knife and a handkerchief. This was a masterstroke of policy, as the
natives well knew that it would take two of us to bear off our prize to
the boat, thus rendering our little party less formidable.

(*Footnote. A talented marine artist who accompanied us upon this and the
preceding cruise, as Captain Stanley's guest.)

THEIR SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT AFTERWARDS.

The number of men had been gradually increasing until it amounted to
about thirty, all with spears. They were also becoming more rude and
insolent in their behaviour, and seeing this I left my post on a hillock,
and joined Simpson to take part in the expected fray. The natives were
now evidently bent on mischief, and we fully expected they would not much
longer delay making an attack, with the advantage of a commanding
position on a hillock which we must descend to return to the boat. At
this crisis one of our party discovered that he had lost a pistol from
his belt, and attempted to recover it by showing another and making signs
evincing great anxiety to