CH. IV TALIS8E ISLAND 57 



alone on the fish they can catch to eat or barter, and 

 seem to know no home but their frail httle outrigged 

 canoes (54). 



Eunning down the middle line of the island there is a 

 range of hills from 1,000 to 1,300 feet m height, and from 

 the foot of the hills to the sea-shore there is in many parts 

 of the island a level plain from 100 to 200 yards in breadth. 

 The presence of this broad level plain surrounding the hill- 

 sides cannot be accounted for entirely by any theory of 

 elevation, but rather by the accumulation of soil from the 

 hill-slopes advancing on the mangrove swamps, as I have 

 explained above in Chapter 11. Although I searched care- 

 fully in the watercourses, I could find no evidence of any 

 considerable elevation of the land in this region, nor do 

 I believe that these coasts and islands have undergone 

 any subsidence. The presence of a broad shore platform 

 proves, I imagine, that the land has remained stationary 

 for some considerable time. 



There are only two constant streams in the island — one 

 at Koa, where I lived, and one on the opposite side of the 

 hill. In the rainy season there are many watercourses. 

 These completely dry up in the summer. The water of 

 our stream was cool, clear, and tasteless, but I always took 

 the precaution to boU it before drinking. 



The agent of the company allowed me to live in the 

 house of the opzichter for the first few weeks of my resi- 

 dence ia the island, but subsequently he kindly provided 

 me with a small but comfortable little house in the imme- 

 diate vicinity containing three rooms. 



A shght sketch of my daUy life in TaHsse may not be 

 uninteresting to those whose travels have not taken them 

 so far or into such strange surroundings. 



Being situated only 2° north of the equator, the difference 

 of the duration of daylight between summer and winter is 



