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

68 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

The lamp was blown out, and we lay on deck listen-
ing to the storm, until a heavy squall drove us below,
to spend the night in a stuffy atmosphere, in uncom-
fortable positions, amid wild dreams. Next morning
there were again about twenty men on the shore,
and again the same performances were gone through.
Evidently the people, influenced by Bourbaki, who
was still in the village, were more confident, and left
their weapons behind of their own accord. They
came to trade, and when their provisions of yam were
exhausted, most of them left; only a few, mostly
young fellows, wanted to stay, but some older men
stayed with them, so as to prevent them from going
on board and enlisting. Evidently the young men
were attracted by all our wonderful treasures, and
would have liked to see the country where all these
things came from. They imagined the plantations
must be very beautiful places, while the old men
had vague notions to the contrary, and were afraid
of losing their young braves.

During a lull in the proceedings we climbed the
narrow, steep and slippery path up to the tableland
in order to get an idea of the country behind the hills.
Half-way up we met two old men carrying yam down
to the beach. They were terrified at sight of us,
began to tremble, stopped and spoke to us excitedly.
We immediately laid down our rifles, and signed to
them to approach, but they suddenly dropped their
loads, ran off and disappeared in the bush. They
evidently feared we had come to kidnap them, and
we decided it was wiser to return to the beach, so