[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

AMBRYM 20 I

drink in a senseless way, simply pouring down one
bottle after the other, until they are quite overcome.
Some never wake up again; others have dangerous
attacks of indigestion from the poison they have
consumed; still more catch colds or pneumonia from
lying drunk on the ground all night. Quarrels and
fights are frequent, and it is not a rare sight to see a
whole village, men, women and children, rolling on
the sand completely intoxicated. The degeneration
which results from this is all the sadder, as originally
the race on Ambrym was particularly healthy, vigor-
ous and energetic. These conditions are well known
to both governments, and might be suppressed on the
French side as easily as they are on the English ; but
the French government seems to take more interest
in the welfare of an ex—convict than in that of the
native race, although the latter is one of the most
important sources of wealth on the islands, setting
aside all considerations of humanity. If the liquor
traffic is not speedily suppressed, the population is
doomed.

Ambrym offers quite a different aspect from the
coral islands, as its sloping sides are seamed by
streams of lava, the course of which may be traced
by the breaks in the forest, as the glowing mass
flows slowly down to the coast, congealing in the
water to peculiarly shaped jagged rocks. Every few
hundred yards we find one of these black walls on
the shore in which the sea foams, and the sand that
covers the beaches is black too. In dull weather all
this looks extremely gloomy, monotonous and im-