262 THE.ARU ISLANDS. [chap. xxxi. 



for they had proof of it. And then they told me that a good 

 many years ago, when the speakers were boys, some Wokan 

 men who were out fishing met these lost people in the sea, 

 and spoke to them ; and the chief gave the Wokan men a 

 hundred fathoms of cloth to bring to the men of Wanum- 

 bai, to show that they were alive and would soon come 

 back to them ; but the Wokan men were thieves, and kept 

 the cloth, and they only heard of it afterwards ; and when 

 they spoke about it, the Wokan men denied it, and pre- 

 tended they had not received the cloth ; — so they were 

 quite sure their friends were at that time alive and some- 

 where in the sea. And again, not many years ago, a report 

 came to them that some Bugis traders had brought some 

 children of their lost people ; so they went to Pobbo to see 

 about it, and the owner of tlie house, who was now speak- 

 ing to me, was one who went ; but the Bugis man would 

 not let them see the children, and threatened to kill them 

 if they came into his house. He kept the children shut 

 up in a large box, and when he went away he took them 

 with him. And at the end of each of these stories, they 

 begged me in an imploring tone to tell them if I knew 

 where their chief and their people now were. 



By dint of questioning, I got some account of the 

 strangers who had taken away their people. They said 

 they were wonderfully strong, and each one could kill a 

 great many Aru men ; and when they were wounded, how- 



