AN OSCULATORY SALUTE. 193 



suddenly I was astonislied by a similar salutation on 

 the lips ! It was done so quickly that I liad no time 

 to recover from my bewildering surprise, and coolly 

 explain that such was not the custom in my land. 

 Instead of my laughing at the Resident's expense, 

 the whole party laughed at mine ; but my confusion 

 was dispelled by the assurance of all that even the 

 governor-general himself had to submit to such treat- 

 ment when he came to inspect these islands. Besides, 

 I was made aware that the fault was largely my own, 

 and that, when I leaned backward to laugh, the fair 

 one behind me had misinterpreted the movement as 

 a challenge (which she certainly seemed not loath to 

 accept). At every village we had to run a similar 

 gantlet, and I must confess that several times it oc 

 curred to me that the youngest member of the party 

 certainly received his share of such tender attention 

 and that many of these beauties, Twna itum, were de 

 termined to improve their present opportunity for 

 fear that they might never again have the privilege 

 of kissing a gentleman with a white face. 



The Resident's duties, while on a tour of inspection, 

 consist chiefly in visiting and examining the schools, 

 of which there is one in every village on this island, 

 except at one place where two kampongs, which are 

 near each other, have one in common. On Saparua 

 also thirteen out of the sixteen villages are each 

 provided with a school, and on Hai*uku eleven vil- 

 lages are supplied with six schools, so distributed 

 over the island as to be accessible to all. The facili- 

 ties, therefore, afforded by the Dutch Government to 

 tliese natives to acquire a good common education are 



