no church and no school, and the people did not trouble themselves much about clothing. I guessed by this that they were heathens. The chief, a young man, invited me to stop with him, and assist him in his battles. I soon showed him that I was a good hand with a musket, and he remarked that before long the time might come when I could use it. He was just then, however, with some of his friends, going to catch pigeons in the woods. We had first a grand kava feast, the drink they make from certain roots, which they first chew in their mouths. Each of the young men had several trained pigeons, which are taught to fly round and round in the air at the end of a long string, and to come back to their masters when called. Each man had, besides, a small net fixed to the end of a bamboo forty feet in length. On arriving at the wood a large circle was cleared of bush, and a wall of stones built round it. Each sportsman had also a small arbour of boughs erected, in which he could sit hidden just outside the wall. In front of him sat his pigeon on a perch stuck in the ground, while by his side rested his net, ready to be raised in a moment.

“When all was prepared, the decoy birds were let fly as far as the string, forty or fifty feet in length, would allow them, when they circled round and round, and to and fro, over the open ground. The wild birds, on seeing them, collected from all quarters to learn what they were about. The sportsmen then drew down their birds, when, as soon as the wild birds came near enough, they raised their nets, and seldom failed to capture one of the wild pigeons. In an instant the bird was brought down. Bird after bird was caught in the same manner. Before commencing the game, stakes were put in, and he who caught the greatest number of pigeons won them.

“We remained nearly a month engaged in this sport, spending the morning in bird-catching, and the evening in feasting. I tried my hand at it, but though, after a few days’ practice, I managed to catch several birds, I did not succeed as well as the young chiefs. This was more to my interest, for had I beat them, perhaps they might have become jealous of me.

“Altogether, this sort of life suited me much better than that which I led with the Christian natives. They were a hospitable sort of people, and I had as much liberty as I could wish for.

“Among other curious things I observed while I was among them, was the way they manufactured the cloth with which they make their dresses. They used the bark of the paper mulberry tree. The young tree is first cut down, and the bark stripped off; it is then steeped in water for a couple of days, when the inner bark is separated from the coarse outer bark. This is then beaten until it becomes as thin as silver-paper, and much increased in size. Even then it is scarcely a foot wide; but the edges are overlapped, and stuck together with arrow-root melted in water. It is then again beaten till all the parts are completely joined. Pieces are thus made of many yards in length, such as I saw during my first visit to these islands. They are afterwards dyed of various colours, red, brown, and yellow, and patterns are put on with a sort of stamp.

“Though the heathen natives wore very few clothes generally, they at times dressed up in robes formed of the cloth I have described, which has a very handsome appearance.

“I might tell you a good deal more about these people. I had made up my mind to remain among them; but people, as you know, don’t do always what they intend. Such was my case in the present instance, as you shall hear. But pass the grog-bottle. I must wet my whistle before I move along.”

I was almost sick with listening to the account of the atrocities witnessed if not perpetrated by the old ruffian, our host, and was inclined to stop him, but his tongue once set going that was more than I could do, and so on he went again.