Miscellaneous. 327 



a propos des hottes, attacked one of our little Maori porkers, who 

 was poking about the deck, thinking no evil; and a tremendous fight 

 ensued. Maori was so fat and round, that for some time the new 

 ' chum ' could not raise a bite out of him, more particularly as he 

 steadily presented the fattest and roundest part of his person to his 

 adversary. At last a new idea seemed to strike the latter, and he 

 took poor Maori by the tail, and made him squeak again. Maori, 

 paralyzed for a time, retired into a quiet corner .thought the thing 

 over, and, his native fighting blood gradually rising to boiling-point, 

 he came out with a rush, and, with many a prod and poke and bite, 

 finished oif his slab-sided assailant in one last and decisive round. 



" He said that the queen (of Raiatea) had asked him to ask me 

 whether I would give her one of our ' little round pigs,' as she 

 expressed it, which, of course, I did, with many expressions of good 

 will. I have often been asked for a photograph on leaving, or per- 

 haps a lock of my hair, but never before for ' a little round pig/ 

 These Society Islands are certainly original places." — Earl of 

 Pembeoke, ' South-Sea Bubbles,' pp. 43, 87, 120. 



Flyingjish. 



" Sailed for Huahine. Saw a very long-flighted flyingfish, with 

 large red pectorals, like a gurnet, which possibly it was. Flying- 

 fish do fly, moving their pectoral fins with extreme rapidity, like a 

 pair of twin screws. Moreover they raise and lower themselves 

 over the tops of waves, and do not dip into them to wet either their 

 whistles or their wings. I do not think that their flight is neces- 

 sarily the proof of submaiine persecution : of course they fly if the 

 bonito is after them ; but I suspect that, as often as not, they fly for 

 the mere fun of the thing. Why else do they make such wild dabs 

 at the bits of light in a ship's side at night ? I remember, between 

 Panama and Rapa, I used to see the cabin ' bulls'-eyes ' surrounded 

 by a circle of scales every morning, left there by flyingfish attracted 

 by the light within, and possibly asking for a passage. 



I should consider two hundred yards a very good flight for a flying- 

 fish; and veiy few there be who do it, twenty or thirty being the general 

 range. It seems limited, in some degree, by the difficulty of keeping 

 the body horizontal. The tail droops more and more and more, and 

 at last, splash ! he goes into the sea. It struck me that as the 

 flyingfish grew scarcer they grew larger, as if only the very big 

 and strong individuals could reach the outside of the circle. When- 

 ever I have seen them in the New-Zealand seas they have been 

 large and solitary. The largest I ever saw (22 inches, if I recol- 

 lect right) fiew on board the ' Tauranga,' a small steamer in which 

 I was taking a passage to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. It 

 went slap into the engine-room, and smote the engineer a smart rap 

 on the cheek. He, supposing that his stoker had assaulted him, 

 used language which I need not repeat, and threatened reprisals. 

 On explanation being given, however, the fish was discovered, and 



