rassing
function I was, of course, expected to join. The ceremony was kept up
with extraordinary vigour the whole night long, but all I was required to
do was to sit beating sticks together, and join in the general uproar.
This was all very well for a little while, but the monotony of the affair
was terrible, and I withdrew to my hammock before midnight.

In the morning I saw a great fleet of catamarans putting off from the
mainland, and in a very short time between fifty and sixty natives joined
our party on the island. Then followed the usual greetings and comical
expressions of amazement--of course, at the sight of me, my boat, and
everything in it. A few hours later the whole crowd left the island, led
by me in the big boat--which, by the way, attracted as much interest as I
did myself. The natives forced their catamarans through the water at
great speed, using only one paddle, which was dipped first on one side
and then on the other in rapid succession, without, however, causing the
apparently frail craft to swerve in the slightest degree.

As we approached the new country, I beheld a vast surging crowd of
excited blacks--men, women, and children, all perfectly naked--standing
on the beach. The moment we landed there was a most extraordinary rush
for my boat, and everything on board her was there and then subjected to
the closest scrutiny.

The people seemed to be divided into clans, and when one clan was busy
inspecting my implements and utensils, another was patiently waiting its
turn to examine the white man's wonders. I sat in the boat for some
time, fairly bewildered and deafened by the uproarious jabberings and
shrill, excited cries of amazement and wonder that filled the air all
round me. At last, however, the blacks who had come out to meet us on
the island came to my rescue, and escorted me through the crowd, with
visible pride, to an eminence overlooking the native camping-ground. I
then learnt that the news of my coming had been smoke-signalled in every
direction for many miles; hence the enormous gathering of clans on the
beach.

The camping-ground I now found myself upon consisted of about thirty
primitive shelters, built of boughs in the most flimsy manner, and only
intended to break the force of the wind. These shelters, or
"break-winds," were crescent-shaped, had ho roof, and were not in any way
closed in in front. There were, however, two or three grass huts of
beehive shape, about se