CHAP. XXV.] ALONG TEE SOUTH COAST. 89 



dirty. Sago trees here cover the mountain side, instead of 

 "•rowing as usual in low swamps ; but a closer examination 

 shows that they grow in swampy patches, which have 

 formed among the loose rocks that cover the ground, and 

 which are kept constantly full of moisture by the rains, and 

 by the abundance of rills which trickle down among them. 

 This sago forms almost the whole subsistence of the inha- 

 bitants, who appear to cultivate nothing but a few small 

 patches of maize and sweet potatoes. Hence, as before 

 explained, the scarcity of insects. The Oraug-kaya has 

 fine clothes, handsome lamps, and other expensive 

 European goods, yet lives every day on sago and fish as 

 miserably as the rest. 



After three days in this barren place 1 left on the morn- 

 ins of March 6th, in two boats of the same size as those 

 which had brought me to Tehiti. With some difficulty 

 I had obtained permission to take these boats on to Tobo, 

 where I intended to stay a while, and therefore got on 

 ]3retty quickly, changing men at the village of Laiemu, 

 and arriving in a heavy rain at Ahtiago. As there was a 

 good deal of surf here, and likely to be more if the wind 

 blew hard during the night, our boats were pulled up on 

 the beach ; and after supping at the Orang-kaya's house, and 

 writing down a vocabulary of the language of the Alfuros, 

 who live in the mountains inland, I returned to sleep in 

 the boat. Next morning we proceeded, changing men at 



