ge of Polynesian and Melane-sian dialects, I was
frequently employed as "recruiter" on many "blackbirders"--French
vessels from Noumea in New Caledonia, Hawaiian vessels from Honolulu,
and German and English vessels sailing from Samoa and Fiji, and in no
instance did I ever have any serious trouble with my "blackbirds" after
they were once on board the ship of which I was "recruiter".

Let me now describe an ordinary cruise of a "blackbirder" vessel--an
honest ship with an honest skipper and crew, and, above all, a straight
"recruiter"--a man who takes his life in his hands when he steps out,
unarmed, from his boat, and seeks for "recruits" from a crowd of the
wildest savages imaginable.

Labour ships carry a double crew--one to work the ship, the other to man
the boats, of which there are usually four on ordinary-sized vessels.
They are whale-boats, specially adapted for surf work. The boats' crews
are invariably natives--Rotumah men, Samoans, or Savage Islanders. The
ship's working crew also are in most cases natives, and the captain and
officers are, of course, white men.

The 'tween decks are fitted to accommodate so many "blackbirds," and, at
the present day, British labour ships are models of cleanliness, for the
Government supervision is very rigid; but in former days the hold of
a "blackbirder" often presented a horrid spectacle--the unfortunate
"recruits" being packed so closely together, and at night time the odour
from their steaming bodies was absolutely revolting as it ascended
from the open hatch, over which stood two sentries on the alert; for
sometimes the "blackbirds" would rise and attempt to murder the ship's
company. In many cases they did so successfully--especially when the
"blackbirds" came from the same island, or group of islands, and spoke
the same language. When there were, say, a hundred or two hundred
"recruits" from various islands, dissimilar in their language and
customs, there was no fear of such an event, and the captain and
officers and "recruiter" went to sleep with a feeling of security.

Let us now suppose that a "blackbirder" (obnoxious name to many
recruiters) from Samoa, Fiji, or Queensland, has reached one of the New
Hebrides, or Solomon Islands. Possibly she may anchor--if there is an
anchorage; but most likely she will "lie off and on," and send away her
boats to the various villages.

On one occasion I "worked" the entire length of one side of the great
island of San Cri