XXII GOVERNMENT 299 



This concluded the serious part of the conference, and 

 it only remained to smoke the cigarettes of good fellow- 

 ship, taken from the hornbill-effigy, and to drink long life 

 and happiness to one another. So great jars of " arack " 

 were brought in and drinking vessels, and each chief in turn, 

 standing before some whilom enemy, sang his praises in 

 musical recitative before giving him the cup ; and after 

 each phrase of the song the multitude joined in with a 

 long-drawn sonorous shout, which, while the drink flowed 

 down, rose to a mighty roar. This is a most effective way 

 of drinking a man's health, and combines the advantages of 

 making a speech over him and singing " For he's a jolly good 

 fellow " ; moreover, the drink goes to the right party, as it 

 does not with us. It should be adopted in this country, I 

 think. By many repetitions of this process we were soon 

 reduced to a state of boisterous conviviality ; and many a 

 hard-faced old warrior, who but the day before had drawn 

 his weapons against his enemy, now sat with his arms 

 lovingly thrown about that same enemy. When this state 

 of affairs was reached, our work seemed to be accomplished, 

 and we white men retired to lunch, leaving one chief in the 

 midst of a long-winded speech. As soon as the restraint 

 of the Resident's presence was removed, the orator began to 

 utter remarks of a nature to stir up the dying embers of 

 resentment ; at least so it seemed to one wily old chief, a 

 firm supporter of the government, who bethought him to 

 send one of his men to pull away the palm-leaf mats from 

 above the indiscreet orator, and so leave his verbosity 

 exposed to the rays of the mid-day sun. No sooner said than 

 done, and this was the beginning of the end ; for others 

 following suit made a rush for the mats that would be so 

 useful in making their camps and boats more rain-proof. 

 There was a mighty uproar that brought us headlong to 

 the scene, only to see the big hall melt away like a snow- 

 flake as hundreds of hands seized upon the mats and bore 

 them away in triumph. So the great peace conference 

 was brought to an end amid much laughter and fun. 



It only remained for the chiefs to pay in the taxes for 

 the year — the two dollars per family which it is their business 

 to collect from their people, and which is the only tax or 

 tribute claimed by the Rajah. This business was got 

 through on the following morning ; and then we said many 

 kind farewells, as the various parties set out one after 

 another in the great war canoes on their long up-stream 



