122 Letter VI. 
height, naked, and very dark-skinned. They clambered on to 
tthe deck, -and offered their native commodities for sale. 
Bartering with natives is an art which requires some prac- 
tice, before one can be proficient enough to avoid being taken 
in. They have all sorts of dodges by which to palm off on the 
unwary worthless articles. They will bring up shells, shining 
and beautiful and wet, barter them and go off, and shortly 
the purchaser finds that the shells are miserable weatherbeaten 
things, that the savage has picked off the beach and dipped in 
_ the water, so as to make them appear glossy and fresh. 
_ The great matter in trading of this kind is to offer the natives 
what they are most particularly in want of at the time. A man 
may be in want of fish-hooks, and then one may get from him, 
for a pennyworth of hooks, what a shilling’s-worth of calico 
wouldn't purchase. The exchangeable value, not the intrinsic 
value of an article, is the thing to be ascertained in this case. 
On different islands, too, a different class of articles is required. 
On Tana, calico is worth next to nothing ; but it is good trade 
on Aneityum, Efaté, Aniwa, &c. Tobacco is good trade on 
most islands ; but it is useless on Ambrim, for there they hav’nt 
learnt to use it. Generally those articles are best which can be 
made up into small parcels, such as beads, fish-hooks, and 
tobacco; for it is very often difficult to get anything from them of 
the value of a good tomahawk. I had with me calico, 
turkey red, hatchets, fish-hooks and lines, knives, and also 
some tobacco for private consumption ; but I found that all 
over the group the tobacco was the most useful as well as the 
cheapest article of barter. Gradually I had been accumulating 
a collection of varieties, and by this time it was mounting up to 
a respectable size. It consisted mainly of native weapons, bags,. 
baskets, and shells. 
The vessel stayed in Lisburne Bay for two days, during which 
time the stores of Mr. Goodwill were landed. This missionary, 
