162 PATH-FINDING. 



a nautical phrase, completely out in their reckoning, and I had to 

 bring my compass into use and become the guide myself in order to 

 avoid passing the night in the bush. When in the interior of the 

 north-west part of Alu accompanied by Gorai, the chief, and a 

 number of his men, I was astonished at the readiness with which, in 

 the absence of any tracks, they found their way to the coast. Gorai 

 led the way ; and on my asking him how he managed to know the 

 right direction in a thick forest with neither sun nor trade-wind to 

 guide him, he merely remarked that he " saveyed bush," and point- 

 ing with his hand in a particular direction, he informed me that 

 " Mono stopped there," Mono being the native name for Treasury. 

 There was a little uncertainty among tlie natives as to whether the 

 old chief was guiding us aright ; but there was no hesitation on the 

 part of Gorai, whose course as tested by my compass was alwaj^'s in 

 the same direction ; he, however, disdained the use of the compass 

 and ultimately brought us back to the coast. When passing 

 through a district with which he is but little acquainted, the native 

 frequently bends the branches of the bushes as he passes, in order 

 to strike the same path on the way back. He must be frequently 

 guided in his course through the forest by noticing the bearing of 

 the sun and the swaying of the upper branches of the trees in the 

 trade- wind, guides which were often employed by myself when 

 alone in the bush : but when, as not uncommonly happens, there is 

 such a dense screen of foliage overhead, that neither the sun nor the 

 upper branches of the trees can be seen, he must employ other 

 means of guidance. Rude tracks, usually traversed the least fre- 

 quented districts of the islands which we visited ; and their per- 

 sistence appeared to be sometimes due to the fact that they were 

 used by the wild pigs. 



Fallen trees commonly obstruct the most frequented paths in the 

 Aacinity of villages : and there they remain uiitil decay removes 

 them, for the native has no idea of doing an act for the public 

 weal : with him, in such and kindred matters, what is everybody's 

 business is nobody's. Captain Macdonald, in his capacity as a chief 

 in Santa Anna, adopted the serviceable method of employing 

 natives, who had committed pett}'' offences, in making good walks 

 in the vicinity of the houses of the white residents. The example 

 however was not followed by the natives for the approaches to their 

 own village of Sapuna. Being quite content with their narrow foot- 

 paths, they probably could not understand that whatever contributed 

 to the public good was also to the advantage of the individual. 



