Chap, xiii.] ALBINO NATIVE. 289 



power which has tamed these savages was a Httle missionary, 

 with battered white tall hat and coat out at elbows, who stood 

 beside us and who took no prominent part in the ceremonies, 

 but yet had full sway over the whole, no dance having been 

 prepared without his previous sanction. 



There could be no doubt as to the amount of good which 

 had been done to these people, and it is sincerely to be hoped 

 that the Wesleyan Missionaries will be left unmolested to con- 

 tinue the work in which they have been so successful, and which 

 they have begun and carried out often at the risk, in some 

 instances with the loss, of their lives. 



The men and children attending the meeting vied with one 

 another in getting money to contribute, and were ready to sell 

 anything they had almost for what we would give them. One 

 boy pestered us to buy an old hen, and followed us about with 

 the bird. Others sold us clubs and ornaments. The great 

 wish was to have several pieces of silver to make a rattle on 

 the table, and two sixpences were worth much more than a 

 shilling, two shillings more than half-acrown. Immediately 

 the ceremony was over everything went up in value, and a 

 good many articles, pressed on us before, were not now to be 

 had at any price. 



Amongst the crowd was an Albino Boy. He was perfectly 

 white, his skin having a peculiar look, almost as if covered with 

 a white powder, in places. His eyes appeared as if the iris were 

 of a pale-grey colour. He hid his eyes either from the light or 

 because of shyness. His parents said he could see perfectly. 

 I could not examine him closely as he roared at the prospect. 

 Albinos seem unusually common amongst Melanesians, and are 

 constantly mentioned by travellers. Hence these savages, 

 when first seeing Whites, no doubt often took them for a 

 race of Albinos. I saw several hunch-backed dwarfs amongst 

 the crowd. 



We sailed from the Wai Levu, or Rewa River, to Kandavir, 

 stopping at a small island on the way, to buy a pig and some 

 fowls. A voyage in an open boat has many discomforts, espe- 

 cially when the boat is crowded. To manage to sleep six 

 together in the confined space of the stern-sheets of a ship's 

 barge was a difficult matter, especially as the available surface 

 was rendered extremely irregular by the various articles neces- 

 sarily stowed upon it, such as provision boxes and beer cases. 

 We all slept with our shooting-boots on, to ensure mutual 

 respect, as we lay packed like herrings in a barrel. On the 

 whole the trip was pleasant enough, and the inconveniences 

 as nothing compared with the interest of a visit to such places 

 as Mbau and Viti Levu. 



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