to his abilities.

My new acquaintance, I must mention, had a most extensive and costly
sporting outfit--all of it was certainly good, but much of it quite
useless for such places as Samoa and other Polynesian Islands. Of rifles
and guns he had about a dozen, with an enormous quantity of ammunition
and fittings, bags, water-proofing, tents, fishing-boots, spirit stoves,
hatchets in leather covers, hunting knives, etc., etc.; and his
fishing gear alone must have run into a tidy sum of money. This latter
especially interested me, but there was nothing in it that I would have
exchanged for any of my own--that is, few-deep-sea fishing, a sport in
which I was always very keen during a past residence of fifteen years in
the South Seas. When I showed my gear to Marchmont he criticised it with
great cheerfulness and freedom, and somewhat irritated me by frequently
ejaculating "Bosh!" when I explained why in fishing at a depth of 100
to 150 fathoms for a certain species of _Ruvettus_ (a nocturnal-feeding
fish that attains a weight of over 100 lb.) a heavy wooden hook was
always used by the natives in preference to a steel hook of European
manufacture. I saw that it was impossible to convince him, so dropped
the subject; and showed him other gear of mine--flying-fish tackle,
barb-less pearl-shell hooks for bonito, etc., etc He "bosh-ed" nearly
everything, and wound up by saying that he wondered why people of sense
accepted the dicta of natives in sporting matters generally.

"But I imagine that they do know a little about such things," I
observed.

"Bosh!--they pretend to, that's all. Now, I've never yet met a Kanaka
who could show me anything, and I've been to Tonga, Fiji and Tahiti."

Early one morning, I sent off my whaleboat with Marama in charge to
proceed round the south end of Upolu, and meet Marchmont and me at
a village on the lee side of the island named Siumu, which is about
eighteen miles distant from, and almost opposite to Apia, across the
range that traverses the island. An hour or so later Marchmont and I set
out, accompanied by two boys to carry our game bags, provisions,
etc. Each of them wore suspended from his neck a large white cowrie
shell--the Samoan badge of neutrality--for we had to pass first through
King Malietoa's lines, and then through those of the besieging rebel
forces.

It was a lovely day, and in half an hour we were in the delightful
gloom of the sweet-smelling mountain forest. In passing t