4 HEAVY RAINS. 



Avliicli, in uiore senses than one, dampened the ardour with which I 

 i>et out on many of mj' excursions amongst these islands. The 

 annual rainfall in these regions is probably about five times as much 

 as the averafre annual rainfall in Engjland. The showers them- 

 selves are usually veiy heavy, and often rain falls at the rate of an 

 inch in the hour, which means a thorough wetting in less than a 

 minute. When in the eastern part of tlie group, I rarely used to 

 i-etum on board without having had half-an-inch, or an inch, of rain 

 ^listributed over my person. Such wettings, however, do but little 

 harm as long as a flannel suit is worn, since the weather generally 

 clears up after each shower and the powerful rays of the sun dry 

 the clothes in a very few minutes without there being the necessity 

 of stopjjing to take them off. 



In spite of the numerous drawbacks, my excursions never lost 

 their interest. Although accustomed to traverse districts which 

 have been upheaved in recent times to elevations of several hundred 

 feet above the sea, the finding of an ancient coral-reef high up a 

 densely-wooded hill-slope, or the picking up of sand and recent sea 

 shells in the interior of an island now supporting a luxuriant vegeta- 

 tion, alwavs excited the same feelings of wonder and interest that 

 I expciienced on first landing on one of the recently upheaved islands 

 ■of the Solomon Group. My thirst, fatigue, and bruises, were for- 

 gotten, as whilst contemplating my surroundings over a pipe I 

 attempted to picture to myself the stages in the history of the 

 island on which I was standing, and reflected on the unwritten past 

 of the natives sitting smoking on the ground around me. 



I was rarely unaccompanied in my excursions, since with the 

 ])rospect of getting tobacco and pipes at the close of the day, 

 natives were always found eager to accompany me. Frequently the 

 boys and lads of the village were only too glad to assist me in 

 carrying my bags. The young imj^s were always full of fun and 

 frolic, making themselves useful in all kinds of ways, and enlivening 

 the time by their singing, laughing, and continual chattering. Many 

 were the speculations matle concerning the nature of my pursuits, and 

 many were the questions to which I had to give some reply. Gorai, 

 the chief of the Shorthand Islands, was very desirous to know what 

 I made with the rocks I collected ; but I found it somewhat diffi- 

 cult to give him an explanation which he could understand. On 

 one occasion I was the cause of much amusement and perplexity 

 to the natives of the village of Sinasoro in Bougainville Straits. 



