THE SOLOMONS AGAIN 191 



According to his own account my sailor man then 

 broke in, lifting his hat and saying, " Yes, lady. If 

 I were not mad I would not be here." 



From Vella Levella I made my way to the extreme 

 east of the Solomon Islands, beating up against the 

 wind to St. Christabel, and putting in at Guadalcanar 

 on the way. I found some English planters there who 

 had built a very nice house for their comfort, fitted 

 up, if you please, with billiard room and a billiard 

 table. I reflected that life in the South Seas was losing 

 its savage charm when these evidences of civilisation 

 began to appear. Nevertheless I enjoyed very much 

 the hospitality of the planters. 



Farther on, in a very small bay on one side of 

 Guadalcanar Island, I encountered a white man who 

 was trading in copra for a Sydney firm. He had not 

 seen a white man for six months and was very pleased 

 to see me. He was singularly amiable and gentle 

 when sober, but entirely different when drunk. I 

 am afraid it is a fact that many traders in the South 

 Seas are tempted by the lonely life to drunkenness, 

 gin being the favourite drink. Gin, or something 

 of the sort, accounts for most of the cases of cruelty 

 that now and again occur on the islands. 



I do not wish to be misunderstood in this reference 

 to " cruelty." I have no sympathy with the senti- 

 mental rubbish that is talked in some quarters in 

 regard to the treatment of natives. In my experience 

 one must be firm with them and sometimes it is 



