THE NATIVE TRIBES OF POLYNESIA. 45S 



sunrise, I had rested perhaps two or three hours on a shady knoll, 

 revelling in that wondrous feeling which can bo enjoyed only under a 

 luxurious atmosphere and in the midst of an absolute solitude. At 

 last, mounting my horse, I travelled some eight or ten miles, when I 

 fancied I heard distant sounds which I at once recognized as coming 

 from a band of natives. My curiosity was aroused, and turning aside 

 through a low dense scrub that skirted a piece of elevated land, then 

 crossing the brow of a hill, I saw before me one of those beautiful 

 tracts of country which so often surprise the traveller amid the arid 

 plains of Australia. Far away extended the landscape, studded with 

 trees, and here and there darkened with a piece of denser vegetation. 

 Immediately beneath me lay a little valley, covered with luxuriant 

 herbage and bordered with a fringe of eucalipti. In the midst was a 

 small group of natives, by whom I soon found that my presence had 

 been already recognized. I rode towards them and was met by two of 

 their number, who, after the interchange of a few civilities, led me on 

 to their companions. They numbered between thirty and forty, the 

 majority being females. All were entirely naked, and exhibited physi- 

 cally a much higher type of the race than I had seen farther south. 

 As I approached them, the noise which at first attracted my attention 

 ceased, and the whole party gathered round me. But having given 

 them to understand that I intended to pass a few hours in their com- 

 pany, they proceeded with their ceremony, not heeding my presence. 

 At the foot of a large tree, sat or rather lay, supported against a log^ 

 an old man. His face, chest, arms and hands, had been burnt. The 

 flesh still unhealed lay bare and festering under the glaring sun and 

 the unceasing irritation of innumerable flies. In addition to this he 

 was suffering from disease of the lungs, and it was with evident pain 

 and difficulty that he breathed. Two women bathed the old man with 

 pipe clay water, and the rest of the party assembled round him and 

 indulged in the wildest gesticulations, which were accompanied at 

 intervals with a strange monotonous cry that occasionally changed into 

 a weird almost unearthly tumult of shouts. I at once divined what 

 was to be the end of all this, and, after watching the proceeding for 

 some time, I rode away again into the bush. Here, at a distance of 

 two or three miles, I rested till evening. When the sun had set, and 

 the full moon was well above the horizon, I once more mounted my 

 horse and retraced my steps. I had at first some difficulty in finding 

 the exact spot where I had left my friends. All was perfectly still and 



