ON TEE "LINE" GROUNDS. 215 



Malagasy, and Chinese; but -with all these I have found 

 a little camaraderie answer excellently. True, they are 

 lazy ; but what inducement have they to work ? The 

 complicated needs of our civilized existence compel us 

 to work, or be run over by the unresting machine ; but 

 I take leave to doubt whether any of us with a primitive 

 environment would not be as lazy as any Kanaka that 

 ever dozed under a banana tree through daylight hours. 

 Why, then, make an exalted virtue of the necessity which 

 drives us, and objurgate the poor black man because he 

 prefers present ease to a doubtful prospective retirement 

 on a competency ? Australian blackfellows and Malays 

 are said to be impervious to kind treatment by a great 

 number of witnesses, the former appearing incapable of 

 gratitude, and the latter unable to resist the frequent 

 temptation to kill somebody. Not knowing anything 

 personally of either of these races, I can say nothing for 

 or against them. 



All the coloured individuals that I have had to do 

 with have amply repaid any little kindness shown them 

 with fidelity and affection, but especially has this been 

 the case with Kanakas. The soft and melodious language 

 spoken by them is easy to acquire, and is so pleasant to 

 speak that it is well worth learning, to say nothing 

 of the convenience to yourself, although the Kanaka 

 speedily picks up the mutilated jargon which does duty 

 for English on boaid ship. 



What I specially longed for now was a harpooner, or 

 even two, so that I might have my boat to myself, the 

 captain taking his own boat with a settled harpooner. 

 Samuela, the biggest of my two Kanakas, very earnestly 

 informed me that he was no end of a "number one" 

 whale slaughterer ; but I judged it best to see how things 



