INCONVENIENCE OF BARTERING. 217 



elicited much clapping of hands, in proof that the gift was 

 accepted : money would not have pleased half as much, 

 as its use is not understood. All payments are made in 

 kind, a most irksome and cumbrous way, compelling you 

 to carry a whole heap of things to defray the current ex- 

 penses of a cruise ; articles regarded as small change, and 

 making one look like a pedlar, you are supposed to have 

 always about you. In one pocket you carry pipes and to- 

 bacco in great demand, but held rather cheap ; in an- 

 other, fish-hooks, jews'-harps, and beads, the spare room 

 to be filled with scissors and knives of various descrip- 

 tions. On board are kept your gold and bank-notes, re- 

 presented by bales of Manchester print, especially navy 

 blue ; flannel jackets and woollen blankets, killing the 

 natives faster than brandy and the so-called vices of 

 civilization, and American hatchets, price five dollars 

 apiece. The inconvenience and expense of paying for 

 everything by articles of barter is increased by some of 

 the goods not proving acceptable in all towns, and the 

 natives refusing certain things because they happen to 

 differ in some unimportant trifle from those generally 

 in use. Fashion here, as elsewhere, rules supreme : 

 knives with white handles instead of black would be 

 objected to, though their blades might be first-rate; and 

 I learned to my cost that it is absolutely useless to 

 lay in stock at Sydney or Melbourne unless one obtains 

 exact information regarding the articles in demand. 



On leaving Taulalia, September the 7th, we steered 

 eastward, passing Yawe, the famous pottery manufac- 

 tory, in order to bid farewell to Mr. Royce, the prin- 

 cipal missionary at Tavuki, under whose hospitable roof 



