OF THE SOUTH SEAS 155 



When we retired from the scene late at night, the 

 upaupa was still active. We went to the house of Pai, 

 a handsome native woman, whose half-caste husband 

 was Mr. Fuller. There were only three beds in the 

 house, which Landers, Lying Bill, and McHenry fell 

 on before any one else could claim them. I contented 

 myself with a mat on the veranda, and noticed that, be- 

 sides the remainder of our party, Pai and her ta7ie were 

 also on that level. 



At half past two in the morning we lay down. I 

 could not sleep. From the bower the song and music 

 rang out continuously, mingled with laughter and the 

 sounds of shuffling feet. 



I got up at five, and with a pareu about me, followed 

 the stream until I found a delicious pool, where I bathed 

 for an hour, while I read "The Ballad of Reading 

 Gaol." The level land between the sea and the moun- 

 tains was not more than a quarter mile broad, and the 

 near hills rose rounded and dark green, with mysterious 

 valleys folded in between them. All about were cocoa- 

 nuts and bananas, their foliage wet with the rain that 

 had fallen gently all night. The stream was edged with 

 trees and ferns and was clear and rippling. At that 

 early hour there was no sensation of chill for me, though 

 the men of native blood balked at entering the water un- 

 til the sun had warmed it. A Chinese vegetable- 

 grower sat on the bank with his Chinese wife and cleaned 

 heads of lettuce and bunches of carrots. She watched 

 me apathetically, as if I were a little strange, but not in- 

 teresting. 



A dozen natives came by and by to bathe in the next 

 pool. They observed me, and called to me, pleasantly, 



