DANGEROUS VOYAGE LV A LEPER-LEPER. 105 



sea, they all widen into deep, oblong pools, which are 

 made very narrow at high-water level by the quanti- 

 ties of sand thrown up by the surf. Near the low- 

 water level they again become broad and shallow, and 

 during ebb-tide the best place to cross them is on the 

 ocean shore as far down as one can go and avoid the 

 danger of being swejjt away by the heavy sui'f. 



It was nearly night when we reached Laha ; 

 we were all thoroughly drenched, and had eaten 

 nothing since morning except some half-ripe bananas. 

 The storm was unabated, but the rajah said it was 

 possil)le to cross the bay against the wind and waves, 

 and three men were detailed to paddle us six miles 

 to the city. Our boat was a common leper-lepei\ that 

 is, a canoe made from the trunk of a large tree, with 

 pieces of plank placed on the sides to raise them to 

 the proper height. Both ends are sharp, and curve 

 up\\'ard. About four feet from the bow a pole is 

 laid across, and another the same distance from the 

 stern. These project outward from the side of the 

 boat six or eight feet, and to them is fastened a bam- 

 boo, the whole forming what is known as an " out- 

 risTirer." The canoes themselves are so narrow, that 

 without these external supports they would be even 

 more crank than the birch-bark canoes of our red In- 

 dians. ^Tien we launched our leper-leper^ and placed 

 on board our cargo of shells, and got in ourselves, her 

 sides were only about four inches out of water, but I 

 could not procure a larger boat, so we started. It 

 soon became so dark that all we could discern on the 

 neioliborins: shores were larcre fires which the natives 

 liad made from place to place to lure the fish l)y 



