Nukunono — Oat of u . 155 



course refused ; but his heart was gladdened by a free gift of the 

 stores he required, as well as other useful articles. He said that 

 he very rarely saw any vessels — not more than once in ten months 

 — and that no "labour ships" visited the island. The latter are 

 small vessels whose owners make a living by conveying Polynesian 

 natives to the Australian colonies, where they are employed as 

 labourers, under — usually — a three years' contract. 



The only native production was "copra," which was taken away 

 by trading vessels that made visits at long intervals. 



Fish were at times abundant, and they had a good many pigs, 

 which were allowed to run wild. The natives, he said, were a 

 very friendly, well-disposed people, of whom we saw two very 

 promising examples in the canoe alongside. 



We were obliged to get under way after only half an hour's 

 stay, when our Portuguese friend shoved off, heavily laden with 

 presents, and bidding us an affectionate farewell. 



On the following morning (September 4th) we reached Oatafu, 

 the most westerly island of the group, and the ship was hove to at 

 about three miles distance from that part of the island where the 

 native settlement is situated. A boat was then sent in, from 

 which a party landed, but not without some difficulty, it being 

 found necessary to anchor the boat outside the line of breakers, 

 and obtain the services of a native canoe to bring us through the 

 surf. 



We were received by the natives with every demonstration of 

 good-will, and were at once conducted to the house of the native 

 missionary teacher, who seemed to a great extent to occupy the 

 position of a chief. We found the worthy old gentleman seated 

 on a mat in the corner of his hut, a position from which he never 

 stirred during the time of our visit. After drinking cocoa-nut 

 milk, and exchanging some ceremonious remarks with the teacher 

 through the imperfect medium of a native interpreter, we extricated 

 ourselves from the crowd of natives that hemmed us in, and started 

 on a stroll of inspection through the settlement 



