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

2 30 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

I had time to pack the objects carefully, and I had
to leave them in charge of natives until the arrival
of the steamer; when I found them again, after six
months, they had suffered a good deal.

Towards evening, while rounding the south—east
corner of Malekula, our motor broke down, and we
had neither oars nor sail. Fortunately the tide was
in our favour, and we improvised a sail from a
blanket, so that we drifted slowly along and reached
the anchorage late at night.

Mr. Paton then took me to Malo, where a
Frenchman, Mr. I., was expecting me. On the east
coast there was but little to be done, as the natives
had nearly all disappeared; but I was able to pick up
some skulls near a number of abandoned villages. I
found very considerable architectural remains,———walls,
mounds and altars, all of masonry; buildings of this
importance are to be found nowhere else except in
Aoré and the Banks Islands, and it seems probable
that the populations of these three districts are
related.

I had an interesting experience here. Mr. I.
and his neighbour did not enjoy the best of reputa—
tions as regarded their treatment of natives. One
day Mr. I. took me over to N.’s place. N. was
just returning from a recruiting trip to Malekula.
We saw him come ashore, staggering and moaning;
on being questioned, he told us that he had been
attacked by the natives, and his crew eaten up. He
was in a frightful state, completely broken, weeping
like a child, and cursing the savages, to whom, he