AT FUTUNA, RECRUITING. .. 293 



were — just like a bevy of cliildren breaking up, and 

 apparently destitute of the slightest sense of responsi- 

 bility. They spoke a totally different dialect, or maybe 

 language, to that of Vau Vau, for it was only an 

 isolated word here and there that Samuela could make 

 out. Bat presently, going forward through the crowd 

 that thronged every part of the deck, I saw a man 

 leaning nonchalantly against the rail by the fore-rigging, 

 who struck me at once as being an American negro. 

 The most casual observer would not have mistaken him 

 for a Kanaka of those latitudes, though he might have 

 passed as a Papuan. He was dressed in all the dignity 

 of a woollen shirt, with a piece of fine "tapa" for a 

 waistcloth, feet and legs bare. Around his neck was 

 a necklace composed of a number of strings of blue and 

 white beads plaited up neatly, and carrying as a pendant 

 a George shilling. Going up to him, I looked at the 

 coin, and said, " Belitani money ? " *' Oh yes," he said, 

 "that's a shilling of old Georgey Fourf," in perfectly 

 good English, but with an accent which quite confirmed 

 my first idea. I at once invited him aft to see the 

 skipper, who was very anxious to find an interpreter 

 among the noisy crowd, besides being somewhat uneasy 

 at having so large a number on board. 



To the captain's interrogations he replied that he 

 was " Tui Tongoa " — that is, King of Tongoa, an island 

 a little distance away — but that he was at present under 

 a cloud, owing to the success of a usurper, whom he 

 would reckon with by-and-by. 



In the mean time he would have no objection to 

 engaging himself with us as a harpooner, and would 

 get us as many men as we wanted, selecting from 

 among the crowd on board, fellows that would, he 

 knew, be useful to us. 



