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

182 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

the disagreeable sensation of an earthquake on the
water. The boat suddenly began to shake and
tremble, as if a giant hand were shaking it, and at
the same time more earth fell down into the water.
The shocks recurred for several weeks, and after a
while we became accustomed to them. The vibra-
tions seemed to slacken and to become more
horizontal, so that we had less of the feeling of
being pushed upwards off our feet, but rather that
of being in an immense swing. For six weeks I
was awakened almost every night by dull, threaten-
ing thunder, followed some seconds later by a shock.

Another village where pottery was made was
Pespia, a little inland. The chief obligingly gathered
the scattered population, and I had ample opportunity
to buy pots and watch the making of them. The
method is different from that at Wus, for a primitive
wheel, a segment of a thick bamboo, is used. On
this the clay is wound up in spirals and the surface
smoothed inside and out. This is the method by
which most of the prehistoric European pottery was
made. The existence of the potter’s art in these
two villages only of all the New Hebrides is surpris-
ing. Clay is found in other districts, and the idea
that the natives might have learnt pottery from the
Spaniards lacks all probability, as the Spaniards
never visited the west coast of Santo. The two
entirely different methods offer another riddle.

I made my way back along the coast, round
Cape Cumberland. One of my boys having run
away, I had to carry his load myself, and although