2 6 W. J. SOLLAS [JANUARY 



The chief men sat round the walls on the floor, and smiling damsels, 

 with large black eyes, ivory white teeth, and long black tresses floating 

 loose, shyly presented us with freshly opened cocoa-nuts to drink, a 

 civility which as inevitably attends a call in Funafuti as the afternoon 

 cup of tea at home. "We told our errand, and received permission to 

 choose a site for boring operations. We then requested that a house 

 should be built for us, and were promised that this should be done for 

 the modest sum of £6. The reception ended, we proceeded to choose 

 a site for the boring and for landing gear, and marked out the plan of 

 our house; it was to measure 15 by 20 feet. We were anxious 

 to have the building of this put in hand at once, and were assured 

 that it should be ready for us by the afternoon of the next day. The 

 East is supposed to be more fertile in promise than performance, and 

 our expectation was that we should see this house when we did see it. 

 Judge, therefore, of our surprise when on passing the same spot the day 

 after we found a substantial structure already standing there. It had 

 grown up like Aladdin's palace in a single night ! The whole popula- 

 tion had been employed on the work ; the men had cut down trees and 

 shaped them into poles, sunk these in the ground, and bound them 

 together into a solid framework ; the children had been set to gather 

 palm leaves from the forest, and the women had woven these into 

 mats, which were used to form both the walls and thatch of our 

 dwelling. The result was an excellent house which served all our 

 needs, protecting us from sun and storm during our residence of nearly 

 three months. Not a nail was driven in its construction, all the joints 

 being firmly made with cocoa-nut cord. 



After contemplating the work with great satisfaction I left for a 

 stroll, and returning an hour after was aghast to find our new house 

 surrounded with smoke and flames ! To my great relief it turned out 

 that the conflagration proceeded from the surrounding bush, which the 

 thoughtful natives had purposely set alight to prevent its taking fire 

 by accident. 



The work of landing gear and erecting machinery was set about 

 vigorously; the crew of the Penguin toiled all day heroically in the burn- 

 ing sun, refreshing themselves at sunset in swimming matches with the 

 natives ; progress was so rapid that by 3rd June, not quite a fortnight 

 after landing, the boring party were already at work (Fig. 6). So far all 

 our plans had been carried out with expedition and success, and since 

 " things done well and with a care " are said to " exempt themselves 

 from fear," we may now safely leave our miners industriously boring 

 while we take a walk across the island. Standing on the shore of the 

 lagoon near the site of our boring, it is just possible to catch a glimpse 

 of the palms on the opposite side, some ten miles away. The beach 

 slopes so gently, that although the tide falls only about five feet 

 it leaves a wide expanse of sand uncovered ; this is a perfect warren 

 of shore crabs (Calajqxz), which scurry along like blown thistle-down 



