184 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



in the hold groaning with pain. The captain, hearing 

 the groans, looked down, and the following conversa- 

 tion ensued : " Hello, Hunter, how are you feeling this 

 fine morning?" "Oh, good-morning, captain. My 

 head is pretty bad, and I am so shaky I can hardly 

 sit up." "Glad of it! glad of it! You will find that 

 the way of the transgressor is hard very hard very 

 hard indeed ! Hope you'll get well all the same ! " 

 And with these last consoling words as an appendix 

 to his other harsh, though wise, remarks, the captain 

 left Hunter to his own reflections. 



We ran out to sea, and back again, and on the 8th 

 reached Ule Island. This was a beautiful place ; the 

 surface was hilly, and covered with grass and forest, 

 with here and there a native plantation of bananas ; 

 the shore was lined with a belt of cocoa-nut trees, 

 and nestling under them was a village of considerable 

 extent, composed of brown huts. Crowds of natives 

 were running about on the sandy beach. On the hill- 

 sides, fires were lighted, as a signal that the inhabitants 

 wished to trade. 



As we put about to make another tack, a boat with 

 a mat sail left the shore, and the captain hove to, and 

 waited for its arrival. It contained several natives. 

 The moment they came on board, we were struck with 

 their remarkable resemblance to American Indians. 

 They were by far the finest-looking savages I had 

 ever seen. Tall, straight, and proud, they seemed 



