110 A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND 



ment that freed her from serfdom. Have made a 

 note of this to the Assistant Resident Magistrate so 

 that he can keep the matter in mind and see if the 

 girl is married on next visit." 



In my case I was quite sure that the Calliope was 

 seaworthy. I was at any rate confiding my own life 

 to her, and I should not have done that if I had 

 thought that she was unfitted for her work. My 

 "boys," too, were quite satisfied with their conditions 

 of employment. I had always got on very well with 

 my collecting gangs in the past, and " boys " who 

 had been with me once were willing to re-engage if 

 the chance offered. 



My annoyance was, I hold, natural. Yet I am 

 willing to confess now that it was not justified. 

 There had to be an end made of the old conditions 

 in the South Seas. Authority had to come and, 

 coming, it had to inflict some individual hardships. 

 At the time I did not see this. I went back to 

 farming at Samarai in a fit of the " sulks." 



