OCEANIC MIGRATIONS. 



board was caused by a singular apprehension that the ship would rise 

 and bear them to the skies, from which they averred that we had de- 

 scended. One of them, who had an ulcerated arm, had the courage, 

 at last, to climb up to the gangway, and offer it to be cured, but he 

 could not be prevailed upon to advance farther. 



" A brisk trade was, in the mean time, carried on through the ports 

 for various articles of their manufacture. Besides matting, they had 

 nets, fish-hooks of bone, miniature canoes three or four feet long, 

 wooden boxes, paddles, &c., but no articles of food. A few of them, 

 in their eagerness to traffic, climbed up the sides of the ship. While 

 matters were in this state, a signal-gun was fired for the schooner. 

 For a second they appeared stupified, and then such a hubbub arose 

 as threw all their previous clamor into the shade. Those who were 

 clinging to the ship leaped directly into the water, and scrambled to 

 their canoes. All then seized their paddles and started for the land 

 with the haste of desperation. 



" In a few minutes the boats were in readiness to go ashore, and we 

 pushed off towards the nearest islet. The entrance through which 

 the canoes had disappeared into the lagoon was some distance further 

 on ; but when we arrived at the shore, the natives were already on the 

 beach prepared to receive us. They had recovered from their terror, 

 and greeted us with every sign of friendship. We landed with some 

 difficulty on a shelf of coral (such as surrounds most of these low 

 islands) on which a slight surf was breaking. Before we reached 

 the dry beach we were met by ten or twelve islanders, who testified 

 by various signs their pleasure at our visit. 



" Their deportment evinced a singular union of confiding warmth 

 and respectful fear. Some were shy, and retreated as we approached ; 

 others, more bold, put their arms round our necks, and urged us to 

 accompany them to their village. None of them, however, could 

 remain quiet, and their agitation was evinced frequently in their 

 peculiar mode, by singing. Several times, while asking an islander 

 the names of objects in his language, after telling me three or four, 

 he would burst out into a song, which nothing could induce him to 

 stop. This, though ludicrous enough, was very annoying. At other 

 times they would speak for several minutes with surprising volubility, 

 quite regardless of its effect upon us ; or they would break out into 

 hearty laughter without the least apparent cause. Their principal 

 object appeared to be to trade, and they were continually repeating 

 the word kafilou, which, at first, we supposed to be the name of some 



