MBUA BAY AND MUTHUATA. 227 



It was said that the chief, Tui Mora, had even made the people 

 break up their canoes for the purpose of constructing the palisades to 

 fortify the village, and thus at the same time to prevent his people 

 from deserting to his enemy. 



On their landing they saw an albino, who had the features of 

 his countrymen, although he resembled the lower class of Irish, so 

 much so that the sailors jocosely remarked that a blunder had been 

 committed by his having been born in a wrong country. His skin 

 was a dirty white, and fairer than that of an European would be if 

 exposed to the sun ; he was marked with many brown spots, about 

 the size of a sixpence or less ; his hair was of the same colour as that 

 of the natives who use lime-water for cleaning it ; his eyebrows and 

 eyelashes were of a flaxen colour ; his eyes were almost constantly 

 closed, as if the light affected them : the iris was blue, with no tinge 

 of red. On a subsequent visit he had dyed his hair a coal-black, 

 which gave him an odd and ludicrous appearance. The natives 

 called him Areea. He was about thirty years of age. 



The white men say that albinos are not unfrequently seen. I saw 

 a man who was partially so, having an appearance as if he had been 

 scalded about the face and upper part of his body. Dr. Pickering 

 suggests that it is not impi-obable that the white individuals reported 

 to have been seen among the inhabitants of New Guinea may have 

 been of this description. 



About one-fourth of a mile from Vaturua is another town, called 

 Matainole, which also belongs to Tui Mora, and is in all respects 

 similar to the other. Between the two towns is a kind of causeway, 

 of some width, built by the natives, by throwing the earth up from 

 each side. The paths wind along it, and on each side are extensive 

 taro-patches, which were flooded. Mangroves abound here, while 

 the drier grounds are covered with plantations of bananas and cocoa- 

 nut groves. 



On the way from Vaturua to Matainole, a piece of consecrated 

 ground was passed, on which were mounds of stone, with a rude 

 idol, dressed with a turban and the Feejee hair-pins. The idol was sur- 

 rounded by clubs set up edgewise, and many spears, arrows, trinkets, 

 cocoa-nuts, &c, lay around, which had evidently been placed there as 

 offerings. A large party of natives, who were with our gentlemen, on 

 seeing them approach it, deserted, excepting a man and boy, who, 

 contrary to the others, seemed anxious for them to partake of the 

 offerings which lay about, and offered to sell the idol, which was 



