536 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 



responded to by the dancers by voice, gesture, and dancing. It was all 

 very good-natured, and provoked laughter without the slightest ap- 

 pearance of anything objectionable either in the word or gesture. 

 Two of the old ladies got so excited that, amid roars of laughter, they 

 attempted to rub noses with me, which was the nearest approach to 

 kissing which they had. I objected, of course ; but, when the dance 

 was over, and we were coming away, they both came forward, took 

 my hand, and we rubbed noses together in the most friendly manner. 

 We, of course, visited the temple of the patron saint or devil-devil 

 Puapua. Religion there, as in Lord Howe, was in a bad condition. 

 The temple was a very large building, but was nearly falling down. 

 The pillars were all covered with plaited sinnett, and when the build- 

 ing was new it must have been very imposing indeed. The " idol " 

 was by far the best I had seen, and it seemed to us that it was regarded 

 by the people as being the representative of the " deity " or '' devil," 

 and that it was worshipped by them. The remains of the old Puapua 

 were visible around the feet of the new one — notably the remains of 

 his helmet, with long points indicating spears. Our guide told us, 

 with great gravity, that the old fellow used to kill too many people, 

 so, when he got into a state of disrepair, and they made a new idol, they 

 made his headgear much smaller, and did not put so many spear-points 

 on it, nor make them as long as in the previous case, and so sought to 

 curtail his powers of mischief. We went ashore at night and T gave 

 them a lantern exhibition, which amazed and delighted them. It 

 was a calm night, and we hung the sheet under the cocoanut trees, 

 Avhere it was very dark indeed. They had never seen anything like 

 it before, and I certainly never showed the views under more peculiar 

 circumstances. The place, a lonely atoll, standing alone in the waste 

 of water in the broad Pacific ; the crowds of wonder-stricken natives, 

 and only two or three white men present ; and yet we were as safe as 

 in any city in our own land ; whilst the joy one felt at being able to 

 give so much pleasure, the curious remarks made by the people, especi- 

 ally by our interpreter. Bob, all combined to malce the night memorable 

 to us. After the views were shown I took out the burners, and the 

 brilliant light of four acetylene aas burners completed the amazement 

 of the people. As there was plenty of carbide unused, I left the light 

 burning, and so they had anothei- and larger dance organised ; and this 

 they kept up until we were all tired, and I put out the light, packed up, 

 and went on board. 



Next day, Wednesday, we left Numanu, but owing to light winds 

 did not anchor at Pelau until about 5 p.m. Whilst anchored there we 

 had a narrow escape. The night was calm, and we had picked up what 

 we judged to be a good anchorage in that season ; but this was a land 

 of surprises, and during the night we had heavy squalls from the north- 

 west which brought in a heavy roll of sea through the passage. I was 

 not at all inclined to sleep, and after midnight I was often on deck to 

 see if we were dragging our anchor, but saw no signs of that. Just 

 before 2 a.m., however, I heard a sudden noise below, and awoke the 

 captain. Just as I was doing this the boys called out, " Anchor, he 



