64 A STRANGER IX A STRANGE LAND. 



moment to his side, and the two began, in their 

 soft, liquid, rolling language, conversing with the 

 utmost vivacity, pointing with their fingers te 

 each of the plates, and showing, by the expression 

 of their countenances, that they felt, indeed, alive ! 



" Ah ! you would like to return to the South 

 Sea Islands ; is it not so ?" 



"Yes! yes!" 



There was no mistake about it ; they were pining 

 for their distant land, and for the sunny skies of 

 the south. Alas ! the chief was not destined again 

 to behold them, for he died not many weeks after- 

 wards, " a stranger in a strange land," and without 

 even the solace of his fellow-countryman's presence 

 in his last moments. It was not apprehended that 

 his end was at hand, and they were at a distance 

 from each other. The missionary's wife alone was 

 present to soothe the dying pillow, and to point 

 the eye of the Christian South Sea Islander to the 

 heavenly home, where he is now, it is humbly 

 hoped, numbered with "the great multitude of 

 all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, 

 who have washed their robes, and made them white 

 in the blood of the Lamb." 



At the time when this incident occurred, I was 

 not acquainted with the narrative of Peron's expe- 

 dition, and though I had often admired the exqui- 

 sitely beautiful coloured figures of zoophytes in 



