WATERED RUM AT OTAHEITE. 83 



appointed a squad of natives to act as police, to 

 watch and arrest anyone that came ashore with 

 liquor, and to destroy all the ram they could 

 find. The temperance movement was then in its 

 infancy, but there we had legal restriction of the 

 liquor traffic — prohibition with a vengeance ! 



But there was an old native called " Jim," the 

 pilot for the harbor, who had been one of my best 

 customers, though he found the salt water affected 

 him somewhat. One day Jim met the old man on 

 shore, and told him he would like to buy a barrel 

 of rum and would pay him his price, six dollars a 

 gallon, for it — but only on condition the captain 

 would put no water in it. The old man came on 

 board in the evening, having given the pilot his 

 word of honor not to water the rum. The old man 

 accordingly gave me instructions to fix a barrel of 

 rum, as Jim would come off for it during the 

 night. I was to fill it and make it tight, and 

 when all was ready, to call the men down to help 

 me get it on deck and overboard for Jim to take 

 on shore. I took a lamp, so as to be able to see 

 down there in the hold where the rum was kept, 

 and I had just started when the Captain called to 

 me from his berth, for he was in bed, ordering me 

 to take the light out and put it on the cabin floor. 

 I could not see very well what I was doing, and I 



