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

I48 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

that I would not pay any more, and that they had
better go away at once. The interpreter said they
were waiting for the chiefs to get through with some-
thing they had to talk over, and they stayed on a
while longer. My refusal may have been a mistake,
and there may really have been a misunderstanding,
at any rate, I had to suffer for my unyielding way,
inasmuch as the behaviour of our hosts immediately
changed from talkative hospitality and childish
curiosity to dull silence and suspicious reticence.
The people sat around us, sullen and silent, and would
not help us in any way, refused to bring firewood or
show us the water-hole, and seemed most anxious
to get rid of us. Under these circumstances it was
useless to try to do any of my regular work, and I
had to spend an idle and unpleasant afternoon. At
last I induced a young fellow to show me the way to
a high plateau near by, from which I had a beautiful
view across trees to the east coast of the island, with
the sea in a blue mist far away. As my guide, con-
sumptive like all the others, was quite out of breath
with our short walk, I soon had to return, and I
paid him well. This immediately changed the
attitude of all the rest. Their sullenness disappeared,
they came closer, began to talk, and at last we spent
the afternoon in comparative friendship, and I could

attend to my business.
But the consequences of my short visit to the

gamal became very noticeable. In my hat I found
a flourishing colony of horrid bug-like insects; my
pockets were alive, my camera was full of them, they