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

LIFE ON A PLANTATION 49

a dead leaf or prune a shoot—we continued our
journey and arrived at Tangoa. Tangoa is a small
island, on which the Presbyterian mission has estab—
lished a central school for the more intelligent of the
natives of the whole group, where they may be
trained as teachers. The exterior of this school looks
most comfortable. One half of the island is cleared
and covered with a green lawn, one part is pasture
for good-looking cattle, the other is a park in which
nestle the cottages of the teachers,——the whole looks
like an English country-seat. At some distance is a
neatly built, well-kept village for the native pupils.
I presented an introduction to the director. He
seemed to think my endeavours extremely funny,
‘ asked if I was looking for the missing link, etc., so
that I took a speedy leave.

We spent a few lazy days on board the little
cutter; the natives would not come down from their
villages, in spite of frequent explosions of dynamite
cartridges, the usual signal of recruiters to announce
their arrival to the natives. It rained a good deal,
and there was not much to do but to loaf on the
.beach. Here,'one day, I saw an interesting method
of fishing by poisoning the water, which is practised
in many places. At low tide the natives rub a
certain fruit on the stones of the reef, the juice mixes
with the water in the pools and poisons the fish, so
that after a short while they float senseless on the
surface and may easily be caught.

After a few days I was anxious to return to the

Segond Channel, as I expected the arrival of the
4