AN OFFICIAL R^CJEBl'ION i M 



boat put off from the beach manned by a crew of copper- 

 coloured natives, their black hair crowned with wreaths 

 of Gardenia and Hibiscus flowers. They were soon 

 swarming over our sides, bringing with them the solitary 

 white trader of the island, who safely piloted us to anchor 

 within a mile of the shore. Captain Field and a party 

 immediately landed, and we went at once to pay our 

 respects to the king, who, notwithstanding the narrow 

 limits of his realm and the smallness of his nation, which 

 numbers only some 240 souls, we found to be every inch 

 a king. His Majesty received us with gracious dignity, 

 led us into his palace, one of the few stone huts on the 

 island, and seated us by his side on the dai's, which con- 

 sisted of packing-cases. The chief men sat round the 

 walls on the floor, and smiling damsels, with large black 

 eyes, ivory white teeth, and long black tresses floating 

 loose, shyly presented us with freshly-opened cocoanuts 

 to drink, a civility which as inevitably attends a call in 

 Funafuti as the afternoon cup of tea at home. We told 

 our errand, and received permission to choose a site for 

 boring operations. We then requested that a house 

 should be built for us, and were promised that this 

 should be done for the modest sum of 6. The reception 

 ended, we proceeded to choose a site for the boring and 

 for landing gear, and marked out the plan of our house; 

 it was to measure 15 by 20 feet. We were anxious to 

 have the building of this put in hand at once, and were 

 assured that it should be ready for us by the afternoon of 

 the next day. The East is supposed to be more fertile 

 in promise than performance, and our expectation was 

 that we should see this house when we did see it. Judge, 

 therefore, of our surprise when, on passing the same spot 

 the day after, we found a substantial structure already 

 standing there. It had grown up like Aladdin's palace 

 in a single night ! The whole population had been em- 



