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

MAEI, TONGOA, EPI AND MALEKULA 33

of the native’s life we overlook much—the filth, the
sores, the brutality of social life; but these are really
Orgy ripples on an otherwise smooth existence, defects
which are not less present in our civilization, but are
better concealed.

The next day we followed the coast of Malekula
southward. There are immense coral reefs attached
to the coast, so that often the line of breakers is one
or two miles away from the shore. These reefs are
a solid mass of cleft coral stones constantly growing
seaward. Their surface is more or less flat, about on
a level with the water at low tide, so that it then lies
nearly dry, and one can walk on the reefs, jumping
over-the wide crevices in which the sea roars and
gurgles with the rise and fall of the breakers outside.
These ever—growing reefs would surround the whole
coast were it not for the fresh water that oozes out
from the land and prevents the coral from growing at
certain points, thus keeping open narrow passages
through the reef, or wider stretches along the coast
free from rocks. These basins form good anchor-
ages for small craft, as the swell of the open sea can-
not cross the reef; only the entrances are often
crooked and hard to find.

Our captain brought us safely into a quiet lagoon,
where the yacht lay in deep green water, smooth as
glass, while beyond the reef the breakers dashed a
silver line across the blue ocean.

Of course we immediately went shooting on the
reef. I did not have much sport, as I could see

nothing worth shooting, but I was much interested in
3