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

RECRUITING FOR NATIVES 7!

planks of the ship were touched and admired amid
much smacking of the lips; a devout “Whau ! ” was
elicited by the sight of the cabin, which seemed a
fairy palace to them. Smaller things they approved
of by whistling; in general they behaved very
politely. If they did not understand the use of a
thing, they shrugged their shoulders with a grimace
of contempt. A mirror was useless to them at first;
after a while they learned to see ; they were frightened,
and at last they roared with laughter, put out their
tongues, admired their sooty faces and began to pull
out their bristles, for they all wore their upper lips
shaved. Naturally, they confused right and left,
and became entirely bewildered. A watch did not
impress them; the ticking seemed mysterious and
not quite innocent, and they put the instrument away
at a safe distance. They asked to see some money,
but were much disappointed, having imagined it
would look bigger and more imposing. They pre-
ferred a little slip of paper, which they carefully hid
in their belts. Our stock of cartridges impressed
them deeply, and there was no end of whistling and
grunting. Sugar and tea were objects of suspicion.
They thought them poison, and took some along,
probably to experiment on a good friend or a woman.
Matches were stuck into the hair, the heard or the per-
forated ears. Pictures were quite incomprehensible.
After an hour they left, less frightened than
before, but still very glad to leave all the mysterious
and uncanny things behind. Bourbaki made fun of
their innocence, and thought himself very civilized,