ain
Hollister,' and the poor fellow sighed and turned his face away as he
held out his hand to me, and his wife drew him to her bosom."

CHAPTER IV ~ NISAN ISLAND; A TALE OF THE OLD TRADING DAYS

When I was first learning the ropes as a "recruiter" in the Kanaka
labour trade, recruiting natives to work on the plantations of Samoa and
Fiji, we called at a group of islands called Nisan by the natives,
and marked on the chart as the Sir Charles Hardy Islands. I thought
it likely that I might obtain a few "recruits," and the captain wanted
fresh provisions.

The group lies between the south end of New Ireland and the north end of
the great Bougainville Island in the Solomon Archipelago, and consists
of six low, well-wooded and fertile islands, enclosed within a barrier
reef, forming a noble atoll, almost circular in shape. All the islands
are thickly populated at the present day by natives, who are peaceable
enough, and engage in _beche-de-mer_ and pearl-shell fishing. Less than
forty years back they were notorious cannibals, and very warlike, and
never hesitated to attempt to cut off any whaleship or trading vessel
that was not well manned and well armed.

As I had visited the group on three previous occasions in a trading
vessel and was well known to the people, I was pretty sure of getting
some "recruits" for Samoa, for our vessel had a good reputation. So,
lowering our boats, the second mate and I went on shore, and were
pleasantly received. But, alas for my hopes! I could not get a single
native to recruit They were, they said, now doing so well at curing
_beche-de-mer_ for a Sydney trading vessel that none of the young men
cared to leave the island to work on a plantation for three years; in
addition to this, never before had food been so plentiful--pigs and
poultry abounded, and turtle were netted by hundreds at a time. In proof
of their assertion as to the abundance of provisions, I bought from
them, for trade goods worth about ten dollars, a boat-load of turtle,
pigs, ducks, fowls, eggs and fish. These I sent off to the ship by the
second mate, and told him to return for another load of bread-fruit,
taro, and other vegetables and fruit. I also sent a note to the captain
by my own boat, telling him to come on shore and bring our guns and
plenty of cartridges, as the islands were alive with countless thousands
of fine, heavy pigeons, which were paying the group their annual visit
from the mountainous forest