AUGUSTINE BAY. 199 



was aware that we should have to wait over night 

 before we could bring them back to the ship. We 

 must make fast friends with the natives or they 

 would steal the hoops off our casks and then, so 

 far as practical purposes went, there wouldn't be 

 any casks. 



We made ourselves " solid " with both chiefs, 

 and according to agreement they left a native 

 detective on board to make sure we were not 

 troubled with thieving. Little good came of that, 

 however, for the detective was the worst thief of 

 the lot. That, please observe, is saying a great 

 deal. The gift for misappropriation is nowhere 

 more superbly developed than in Madagascar. 

 And their impudence, combined with their thiev- 

 ing — pity the mariner who must restrain himself 

 from bloodshed under such torment ! No sort of 

 sanctity is proof against their ravages. 



One day a Yankee clipper came to anchor in 

 the harbor with the stars and stripes at her peak. 



While the captain and his officers were at sup- 

 per, the fuzzies hauled down Old Glory and made 

 off with it. The Tent Rock chief, so I have 

 heard, had it made up into a suit of clothes, and 

 was seen by a British crew, a few weeks later, 

 strutting about in it like a coal-tar Yankee Doodle. 

 But all that happened after we had left. 



