GORAI. 21 



The chiefs are all connected either by blood-relationship or by 

 marriage, and together form as powerful an alliance as might be 

 found in the whole group. Visits of condolence are exchanged in 

 times of bereavement between the chiefs ; and presents are conveyed 

 from one to another. On one occasion we carried a present of sago 

 from Mule to Gorai ; and I have on more than one occasion during 

 our passages between these islands been made the bearer of a 

 message from chief to chief. 



Gorai, the well-known Alu chief, Alu being the name of his 

 principal island, exercises a kind of suzerainty over the neighbour- 

 ing chiefs. But his reputation and influence extend far beyond the 

 islands directly or indirectly under his rule. From Treasury north- 

 ward and eastward, throughout the Shortlands, across the straits to 

 Choiseul Bav, throucrh Faro, and along' the coast of Bougainville, 

 extending even to Bouka, his influence is predominant. Masters of 

 vessels, recruitino- labour on the coast of Bouo-ainville, have a 

 sufiicient guarantee for the good behaviour of the natives of the 

 places they visit, if they have been fortunate enough to secure the 

 presence on board of one of the sons of Gorai. This chief has been 

 the trusted friend of the white man for many years. On our first 

 visit to Alu we were therefore prepared to think favourably of him. 

 We found him on the beach, surrounded by a considerable number 

 of his people. Shaking hands with us, he told us in his imperfect 

 English that he was a friend of the white man. Rather beyond 

 middle age, and somewhat shorter than the average native, he has 

 an honest, good-humoured expression of countenance, which at once 

 prepossessed us in his favour. Whilst seated in the dingy interior 

 of one of his houses, surrounded by several of his wives, Gorai 

 related to us the story — well known to ail acquainted with the 

 Solomon Group — of his reprisal a few years before on the natives of 

 Nouma-nouma, a villaoe on the east coast of Bouijainville, for the 

 murder of Captain Ferguson of the trading steamer " Ripple." The 

 master of the " Ripple " was an old friend of Gorai, and traded ex- 

 tensively with him. On hearing the nev^'s, the chief mustered his 

 men and despatched them in canoes, under the command of his 

 eldest son, to the scene of the massacre, about a hundred miles away. 

 The natives of the offending village were surprised, and about 

 twenty of them were killed, including men, women, and children — 

 "all same man-of-war," as Gorai too truthfully observed. One of 

 the chief's sons has received the name of the unfortunate master of 



