56 JUNGLE PEACE 



height than the roof. Such abstraction is 

 worthy of mention at least. 



Amid the memory of all the dirt and damp, 

 dull sadness, two things were unforgetable, as 

 untouched diamonds glisten in their matrix of 

 wet blue clay. Amid sodden clothes, unwashed 

 hands and bestial faces, a trayful of rainbow 

 fishes gleamed opalwise — coral, parrot and 

 angelfish, all awaiting some unsavory purchaser. 

 Then came the Uttle French negress, selUng 

 fans, out of the ruck of sexless bearers of coal. 

 When we answered her appeal with a '' Non 

 merci/' her face lighted up at the courtesy of 

 the words; "Voyons!'' said she, " comme &est 

 gracieusement refuse!" No mortal could have 

 resisted buying her wares after such dehcate 

 sentiment. 



About five in the afternoon we parted from 

 the gritty wharf and steamed for hour after 

 hour along the shore. We forgot the poor, 

 filthy, ill-mannered coal carriers, and the thought 

 of the misery and squalor of the town passed 

 with its vanishing, still clad in its cloak of rain. 

 As the natives appeared to us so inferior to 

 those of the other islands, so by some law of 

 compensation the coast was revealed correspond- 



