LANDING AT RIMATARA. 23 



the good woman of the house. After survey- 

 ing the premises, getting a specimen of the 

 king and teacher's handwriting, and giving 

 them a card to certify any other chance ship 

 of their hospitality, I returned to the shore 

 by another path, through a dense wood, coming 

 out of it on the windward side of the island, 

 by the old church and grave-yard, where Te- 

 maeva pointed out the tomb of a former wife, 

 having the date of her death rudely cut in a 

 coral slab. 



The cocoa-nuts passed were numberless, 

 shedding their fruit by thousands ; also lofty 

 and straight pandanuses, kukuis, and milo 

 trees. Following round the shore to the point 

 at which we had struck off into the woods, 

 we found the captain there busy trading. I 

 pleased myself a-wbile with looking at those 

 mixed and motley groups, and trying to com- 

 municate with the harmless Arimatarians, and 

 then went off to the boat through the out- 

 rageous surf, only wishing I could leave with 

 them some substantial and enduring testimony 



