Made a tack at 7, and at 7.40 came to an anchor under Dip Point, or to westward of it, on a beautifully regular bank of soundings, in seven fathoms, black sand. The whole shore here; is just volcanic dust of centuries; the point of the cliff is of the same. The dust from the volcano fell continually on the deck during the night, and one had a coppery smell in nose and mouth; but it is delightfully cool and pleasant. Many natives came down, one waving a branch. Women, too, came to the beach; but men and women were apart. The men wore a mat girdle, with a red ribbon; the women, a titi of leaves. Men and women in groups apart. A canoe was launched, bearing a man with a bunch of cock's feathers, and came within a ship's length, then turned and went on shore again. On her landing, the women ran along the beach, breaking off boughs of trees and waving them. I saw an Albino-the lads walking with their arms round each other's necks, the girls folâtrant (this is more like Polynesia).

I landed with Perry at 2 P.M., close under the point. A crowd of natives met us, filthy dirty, and friendly, feeling our arms and backs to see the size. One spoke English, and quickly gave me a number of words, with very fair intelligence of my meaning.* We were asked at once to go up to the village, and went up accompanied by a crowd, who wanted us to buy all sorts of things in the way of food-yams, taro, cocos (root), bananas, cocoa-nuts; but offered no other things. One wore a bundle of pigs'-tails round his arm, with a bit of mother-of-pearl, &c. ; another, bracelets, two inches wide, of tortoise-shell. Many had pigs' teeth, In their ears were often curls of tortoise-shell, and about their necks cords of a fine white fibre of, I think, screw-pine, with two or three pigs' tusks, like horns, curling up and behind the neck.

I walked up to the village, and was shown the idols leaning against a palisade of bamboos, thirty and forty feet long; a screen in front, of canes, and a roof overhead of light canes too. I after

* See Appendix.

wards visited three other villages, and found the arrangements identical. The idols are of fern-stalk, or of a sort of palm ; a head, with eyes, nose, and mouth, gigantic, and with little arms coming down from the hair. In one case there was a woman's figure, with breasts; the style is very New Zealand indeed. They are coloured with anatto and lime, white and red; eyes in concentric circles, or diagonal stripes. The dead are buried all about, and I should imagine that this is again a worship of ancestors, for many figures are standing about, some old; and in the first village of Wakou there was a double set, one oldish and one brand new. In the fourth village of Lowea I afterwards bought one, which was standing by itself and rotting, and therefore twenty or twenty-five years old; but its paint was pretty fresh. But it is different from any other, having a beak made from part of a root, and being of hard wood. They took two knives for it. In each village a tall lalli, pointed and hollow, formed a central spot to the burial and idol-ground. The idols or ancestors each had a stone, or one or more small circles of stones near; and a man who spoke a few words of English said that pigs were brought there to be killed. At two of four villages the chief's house contained crooked knees of wood, fairly carved, which it was explained to me were for the purpose of killing pigs; and at Lowea a man was pointed out to me as either the priest or talking man, whose office it was to kill pigs at the sacrificial stone, by striking them on the head. I imagine this to take place at the great wake or fair or ceremony which, as in the island of Vaté, takes place after the figures or memorials of ancestors are set up. At Vaté, according to the Rev. Mr. Macdonald, it is customary to have thirty days' feasting on the inauguration of new lallies. The four villages which I visited are exactly alike in all respects. The chief's house has some distinction, being enclosed by a fence or wall, called wáru-war; and there is a public-house. The houses are low, not more than 5 ft. 6 in. high for the chief, and 5 ft. for the others, and grimy with smoke; and things are stuck up in the thatch of the roof for security. The women live

Men have two and three,

apart, I imagine; but am not sure. and I was shown one man who had five, wives. Either to-day is one of their own gala days, or it was because we had come that every one was painted, the women more than the men, and in red and white, horizontal stripes, spots, concentric circles, and thus ;

too dreadfully filthy. When they peeped to look at us, they were generally chased away by the men, who reviled them. They all wore titis, called tiwiin. The men's girdle (of bark) is called wawa; a narrow string of plaited grass goes over this, and is called tel.

I walked along the beach from the point to the west, which is all volcanic dust, to a bluff of conglomerate (yellow), not hard, of mud and small bits of basalt. On the beach are consolidated flat slabs of bits of coral, rounded bits of basalt as big as large peas. The beach is all black basaltic sand. I should say the whole is rising, without doubt. At each village was some fellow who spoke English; two had been in Fiji, three in Port Mackay. None wished to return. Lots of very nice-looking pigs here. I came off at 6.

July 26th.-Landed, at 9.30, at Wâkou, and tried to get an image, without success; also a pig-killing stick, but in vain. Got some adzes and a club (good). Met a man who had come in his canoe all the way from Rodd's anchorage, or near it. He and others gave me the names of all the villages along the coast. I wanted

to establish the fact of the existence or non-existence of tribal wars, and asked, "Was he afraid?" "Did they fight?" And they all declared that they were friendly, and never fought with any one, and never eat men. I am inclined to believe this. When I repeated this the man said, "No, no; no kill man! missionary, no kill! Port Mackay, very bad man; he shoot, he kill black fellow. No, all same here!"

All same

I saw by the way a skull which Perry bought, and at the chief's house a piece of a human thigh-bone, shaped off to pare out the inside of a cocoa-nut, and well polished. Coming off, Messer told us that while sketching a boy stole up to him and measured his nose with a straw, broke the straw off, and went gently and thoughtfully away.

These two stories coming together, irresistibly call to one's mind that they are speaking of us as we of them. IVe are measuring their facial angles, writing down their language, pacing their houses; they measure our noses. We talk of their savage treachery, and think how good we are; they say, "We all same missionary. Bad men Port Mackay, shoot black fellow." Altogether, I think these are not at all unamiable people. The old chief's tenacity of his household gods is not a bad sign; the worship of ancestors is respectable. Life is secure enough for a small canoe to come half the length of the island. I doubt whether our friend from Simbul, at the other end, used the same word for everything. He certainly called Mallicollo by a different

name.

I came off again at 11, richer by a club; and weighed and made sail by 12. Got off Sandwich harbour (Mallicollo), by 2 P.M., and sailed right in. We have had no steam since Suva, have run 1500 miles, and entered five and left five harboursthree close and two open, without a lb. of coal, and all in eighteen days, including eight and a half at anchor. But here I imagine it will end, as it is very calm. She didn't shoot so high as I expected her to, by a long way. As we stood up the port, a screech from the voices of many natives came off

the south shore. The wind followed right in, up to Observation Point, and then fell light and came down the harbour; but we had way enough to take a very good position.

I landed at 4 P.M., and walked along from Observation Point, meeting single houses always empty. The places opener and cleaner than at Ambrrr, as they here call it. Everything empty; but now and then we heard a voice, and as we passed house after house on the hillside, the people ran up behind us. At last we got hold of a man, and walked along; he had been in Queensland and Fiji, and from him we got some words.* Our man soon wanted us to turn back, but we, of course, would not; and going on, found ourselves suddenly in a beautiful cleared place, in which was the public-house, and the gods or ancestors, as in Ambrym, cut out of fern or palm. But here there was a double row of drums as well, as at Vaté or Nguna; and one was handsomely carved, with a head like a New Zealand face. There were about ten of these, of which this is the chief, and all of a soft wood. They wouldn't hear of selling them. They declared that they had no chief at all. These people are very like those of Ambrym, their clubs and bows and arrows are identical. Houses are better, and have a semicircular end. This public place is glorious, with its splendid trees around, the lofty tufts of dracona about the house, and the beautiful crotons in masses around. These people have an idea of what is beautiful unquestionably, as Mr. Macdonald says of the Vatese. A number of men were sitting there, but the women and children were all off to the woods in a great state of fear indeed.

The fishing party went away to the east of the stream, and made a great haul; they sent me a fine mullet, a sort of bass, and another, all splendid fish. The dress and ornaments of these people are like those of the Ambrym men. I saw but two little canoes here, whereas at Ambrym the canoes were large, ugly, crooked, and ornamented at each end with a figure of a bird.

* See Appendix.