212 CHALLENGER 



ship weighed anchor and steamed to the bay known as Foviung 

 Emua at the eastern end of the island. There the boats were 

 lowered and, after dark, on a night of perfect calm and of white 

 moonlight, the keels grated gently on the coral shore and a party 

 landed to find two trucks waiting in the dark shadows of the palms 

 to take them along the rough road which wound between low 

 lava-stone walls to the village. Doctor Evans, the Administrator, 

 was the only European living on the island and with him the 

 Captain and members of the crew sat down beneath a palm-leaf 

 canopy that had been rapidly constructed in front of the general 

 store. The orchestra consisted of men seated around a pile of 

 rolled grass mats upon which they beat a vigorous rhythm with 

 their short sticks. The dancers were arranged in a rectangle, 42 of 

 them in rows of six, three men and three women in each row. 

 As the dances progressed without pause the front row would 

 from time to time turn and go to form the rear rank and the 

 second row of dancers moved forward into the limelight. The 

 whole dancing team sang continuously. Clad in bright red and 

 white lava-lavas, wearing the traditional grass skirts, with 

 wreaths of green interspersed with white flowers and the crushed 

 red fruits of the pandanus tree in their hair, the dancers made an 

 active and all absorbing scene. They went on and on; the rhythm 

 changed from slow to fast ; men and women now began to come 

 forward singly or in pairs to perform some particular variation 

 of their owm, hips swinging, arms moving, knees bending with 

 acrobatic agility. Sweat poured from foreheads and formed in 

 beads upon bronze chests, but still the ranks kept coming forward 

 as the music, now enlivened with an electric guitar, became more 

 and more insistent. The ship, the sea, the distant homecoming, 

 all were forgotten by the sailors as they watched, utterly absorbed, 

 wishing this Rotuman night to go on for ever. 



At last the music stopped, as abruptly as it had started three 

 hours before. The singing ceased and the dancers sank where 

 they were to the ground. A moment's complete silence reigned 

 and then Dr. Evans leant over to the Captain and whispered that 

 a few words were now expected of him. He rose, and speaking 

 slowly through the Government Clerk, who interpreted, he 

 thanked the people of Rotuma for this glorious evening. Never 

 had he seen dancing to equal it nor a setting so lovely, for the 



