BECHE-DE-MER. 273 



Dogfish shall tell the people. Tlie Captain Longbeard shall not beat 

 any of the people. The people shall not fight among themselves, but 

 if there be any quarrel among them, they shall refer it to the Captain 

 Longbeard and to the Chief Dogfish. If any one of the people die, 

 that which is due to him or her shall be entrusted to the Chief Dog- 

 fish, to be given to his or her family. The Captain Longbeard shall 

 supply to all the people for nothing, lines and fish-hooks, that they 

 may catch themselves food. All food and fresh water shall be taken 

 charge of and fairly divided by the Chief Dogfish. Twenty-eight 

 days shall count for one moon ; out of each moon shall be four days' 

 rest that is to say, the people shall work six days, and on the 

 seventh day they shall do no work. They shall not lie to the Chief 

 Dogfish, or be lazy, sulky, or dissatisfied. There is no more to say.' 



Here follow the names of the people, with their marks, each 

 against his or her own. As a rule they thoroughly enjoy an 

 expedition of this sort ; they live together like one family, and 

 part good friends. People must know something of these 

 natives before they can appreciate their good dispositions and 

 realise the fearful injury some of our race have done them. A 

 New Zealand colonist, who spent some time in the islands, thus 

 remarks, and he can be truthfully endorsed by all well-meaning 

 whites who have visited the Pacific : 



' The poor barbarians are good-tempered, generous even to 

 folly, and ready at any time to encounter the most deadly 

 perils in the service of white men who treat them with kind- 

 ness and liberality. Very many there are of us who have 

 been indebted for our lives to their lovingkindness and unselfish 



bravery 



' " Through days of danger and ways of fear," 



starving among desert cays, lost upon lonely seas, running with 

 a rag of sail before furious winds, tossed in the foam of 

 breakers where the sharks are jostling one another. Talking 



18 



