THE SOLOMONS AGAIN 189 



Many things are put down to the devil, from the 

 inconvenience of a fish-bone stuck in one's throat 

 to a bad attack of fever. They have a much more 

 vivid idea of the devil than of any Good Spirit. 

 I cannot recollect, indeed, in the course of all my 

 conversations with the natives, any direct reference 

 to a Good Spirit, though allusions to the devil, to 

 the magic that he might work, and to the necessity 

 of conciliating him were very frequent. 



After collecting at this spot in Vella Levella for 

 a month, I cruised slowly along the coast, not setting 

 up tents in the evenings but camping in my boat. 

 One day I came across a solitary trader's house, and 

 found him very sick with fever. The best I could 

 do for him was to catch some fresh fish for him, 

 with the agency, as usual, of a plug of dynamite. 

 The poor fellow had a native wife in Ellis Island, 

 whom he had left behind whilst he was on a trading 

 trip to this quarter. He entrusted to me some 

 " trade "' that he wished to have sent to her. I 

 heard shortly afterwards of his death. 



The white traders in the South Sea Islands often 

 contract marriages with native women, and in many 

 cases these marriages, ill-fitting though they may 

 seem, endure for quite a long time, especially when 

 any family grows up as a result of the union. Of 

 course, a native woman of any intelligence who has 

 lived as his wife with a trader for some length of 

 time comes to be very useful to him in his business ; 



