326 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



a point, or perhaps between a barrier reef and the shore 

 of the island that it encircled, close to some native vil- 

 lage ; while again the pilot, watching for shoals from 

 the masthead, would guide the ship through a narrow 

 passage between the breakers into some quiet lagoon ; 

 and once she anchored in the crater of an old volcano, 

 whose giant walls towering about her formed the island 

 of Totoya. Curiously enough, the Yaralla visited Oneata 

 exactly fifty-seven years after Wilkes, the first steamer 

 to go into its lagoon since 1876. 



The opportunity of seeing something of the natives 

 was not the least interesting part of the expedition. 

 The English have had the good sense to leave them 

 very much undisturbed, and allow them to go on as 

 they always have, so they are among the finest exam- 

 ples of what the South Sea Islander was before he fell 

 into the hands of missionary and trader. As the ship 

 steamed along some island, with scattered huts lying in 

 the shade of the palms that overhung sandy beaches, 

 her appearance would cause the greatest excitement 

 among the natives, who ran wildly along the shore as 

 she passed. Anchoring at the mouth of some pretty 

 little bay at whose head clustered a tiny village along a 

 coral sand beach, the explorers would go ashore to find 

 the whole village, clad only in loin cloths, waiting to re- 

 ceive them. The chief would lead them to his house of 

 reeds, with its high stone foundation and steep thatched 

 roof ; entering, by means of a flat log, in which notches 

 had been cut for steps, they would find themselves in a 

 large room whose walls and roof were hung with tapaand 

 matting. Some dozen girls, the top of their heads clipped 

 and their ringlets entwined with flowers, would squat 

 down on the floor and begin one of the curious chant- 



