mselves once more upon the inviting mats, and resumed the
employment of the previous night, sleeping as soundly as if they had not
closed their eyes for a week. Others sallied out into the groves, for the
purpose of gathering fruit or fibres of bark and leaves; the last two
being in constant requisition, and applied to a hundred uses. A few,
perhaps, among the girls, would slip into the woods after flowers, or
repair to the stream with small calabashes and cocoa-nut shells, in order
to polish them by friction with a smooth stone in the water. In truth
these innocent people seemed to be at no loss for something to occupy
their time; and it would be no light task to enumerate all their
employments, or rather pleasures.

My own mornings I spent in a variety of ways. Sometimes I rambled about
from house to house, sure of receiving a cordial welcome wherever I went;
or, from grove to grove, and from one shady place to another, in company
with Kory-Kory and Fayaway, and a rabble rout of merry young idlers.
Sometimes I was too indolent for exercise, and, accepting one of the many
invitations I was continually receiving, stretched myself out on the mats
of some hospitable dwelling, and occupied myself pleasantly either in
watching the proceedings of those around me, or taking part in them
myself. Whenever I chose to do the latter, the delight of the islanders
was boundless; and there was always a throng of competitors for the honor
of instructing me in any particular craft. I soon became quite an
accomplished hand at making tappa--could braid a grass sling as well as the
best of them--and once, with my knife, carved the handle of a javelin so
exquisitely that I have no doubt, to this day, Karnoonoo, its owner,
preserves it as a surprising specimen of my skill. As noon approached, all
those who had wandered forth from our habitation began to return; and when
mid-day was fairly come, scarcely a sound was to be heard in the valley--a
deep sleep fell upon all. The luxurious siesta was hardly ever omitted,
except by old Marheyo, who was so eccentric a character, that he seemed to
be governed by no fixed principles whatever; but acting just according to
the humour of the moment, slept, eat, or tinkered away at his little hut,
without regard to the proprieties of time or place. Frequently he might
have been seen taking a nap in the sun at noon-day, or a bath in the
stream at midnight. Once I beheld him perched eighty feet from the groun