MULE. 2S 



I now come to Mule, the Treasuiy chief, who numbers amongst 

 liis wives a sister of Gorai, Bita by name ; whilst the Alu chief 

 has returned the compliment by making- Mule's sister, Kai-ka, the 

 principal amongst his hundred wives- Mule, als > known as Mule- 

 kopa, has rather the appearance and build of a chief of one of the 

 more eastern Pacific groups. He has a sedate expression of coun- 

 tenance, a prominent chin, and strongly marked coarse features. A 

 large bushy head of hair adds to the dignity of his appearance ; and 

 his powerful limbs, depth of chest, breadth of shoulders, and greater 

 height distinguish him pre-eminentl}'' from his people. His rule is 

 as despotic in Treasury as that of Gorai in the Shortlands ; and he 

 maintains his sway rather by the fear he inspires than by possess- 

 ing any feeling of re.spect on the part of his subjects. On more 

 than one occasion I have heard the natives use threatening language 

 towards their chief, when he had made some arbitrary exercise of 

 his power. He had a habit of sending away to the bush any native 

 who from his superior knowledge of English seemed to be sup- 

 planting him in the intercourse with the ships that visited the 

 harbour. Even his right-hand man, who prided himself on his 

 name of Billy, experienced his wrath on one occasion in this 

 manner. Like other chiefs, ]\Iule is grasping and covetous, short- 

 comings w^hich are rather those of the race than of the individual. 

 Although of the chiefs of Bougainville Straits I liked him the least, 

 the contrast was rather due to the exceptionally- good estimate we 

 had formed of his fellow chiefs. The visits of H.M.S. " Lark " to 

 this island have been the means of removing the very bad reputa- 

 tion which the natives had deservedly possessed : and I would 

 especially invite the attention of my readers to the history of this 

 change in the attitude of these natives towards the white man. 



Captain C H. Simpson, who visited this island in H.M.S. 

 " Blanche " in 1872, described its people in his report to the Admir- 

 alty,'^ as being " the most treacherous and blood-thirsty of any 

 known savages;" and the officers employed in making a sketch of 

 the harbour had ample evidence of their ferocity. About seven 

 years before, the natives had cut out a barque and had murdered 

 her crew of 83 men. Previously they had captured several boats of 

 whalers visiting the islands, and had massacred the crews. The 

 Treasury natives were always veiy reticent to us when we tried to 

 learn something more of the fate of the barque ; but we learned 



1 " Hyilrographic Notices, Pacific Ocean," 1856 to 1873 (p. IOC). 



