TWO LADIES 



" To one, resolution; to another, a disposition to dance." 



Nelly, the Shrew. 



As the steamer from the South enters the bay, the 

 traveller sees ahead the fringe of houses on the low 

 lands fronting the inlet where shipping finds safe and con- 

 venient harbourage. To the left he may be introduced 

 to a strip of open beach between two low points of 

 grey granite, back from which are scattered groups of 

 modest buildings and huts which form the aboriginal 

 settlement. The choice of the site for the settlement 

 was influenced by the character of the country. Al- 

 though but a short distance by sea from the port, it is 

 isolated by its background of hard and inhospitable 

 hills patched with almost impenetrable jungle. Few 

 consigned there ever leave of their own motive, however 

 earnest the longing may be. The home-sick realise 

 that escape is difficult and, if successful, futile, for are 

 not the police everywhere, and strong and compelling ? 

 Why undertake the unknown perils of unknown hills — 

 spiritual perils more to be dreaded than physical — when 

 capture and again banishment are certain ? 



Nellie Oongle-bi, among whose matrimonial experi- 

 ences was Tom, of this Isle, and who since his death 

 has gone from bad to worse, had been found under the 

 protection of a coloured alien, sadly degenerated and 



131 



