BOWDITCH ISLAND. 21 



Mr. Williams assured me that the halos and parhelia were usually 

 followed by bad weather. 



At Apia, among their old acquaintances, they encountered Pea, the 

 ruling chief of the place, whose begging propensities still existed in 

 all their force. His form was equally rotund, and his desire of being 

 of service quite as great. Report spoke of him as having become 

 very religious of late, but his covetousness had not diminished in con- 

 sequence, at least in the opinion of our officers. He was generally 

 full of business, among his friends and relatives, all of whom he con- 

 siders more or less as his dependants. He was very anxious to be in- 

 formed what had become of his relative, Tuvai, the murderer, whom 

 we had carried away from these islands on our former visit. 



The missionaries were as attentive as formerly to the officers, and 

 gave them every facility that lay in their power of spending their time 

 usefully. They have been making progress in their efforts to civilize 

 these natives, by establishing schools, and stimulating them to improve 

 their condition. Almost every village now has its substantial white- 

 washed church, which also serves for a school-house ; and, from the 

 reports, both continue to be well attended. Some improvements were 

 seen to have taken place in the dwellings, the arrangement of the 

 interior having a more civilized look, not only from the numerous 

 articles of European manufacture, but in an improved state of ventila- 

 tion. The cattle and horses were on the increase, and there are few 

 natives but have supplies of pigs, poultry, and the vegetables of the 

 island. 



Purser Speiden, who was the officer charged with procuring sup- 

 plies, and superintending the trade with the natives, having found 

 much difficulty in obtaining them alongside the ship, received per- 

 mission to make arrangements for a suitable place on shore. For this 

 purpose he procured a place to erect a pen for the pigs, &c. To 

 show the exorbitant demands of the natives, and their desire to prac- 

 tise imposition, I will state the difficulties he encountered. In the 

 first place, he had to pay for the site on which to build a pen ; 

 secondly, for the logs and poles to build it with ; thirdly, for going 

 after the timbers ; fourthly, for building the pen ; fifthly, for trans- 

 ferring the live-stock to it ; sixthly, for services to a native to watch 

 the pigs during the day and see that they did not escape; seventhly, 

 to pay a man to collect cocoa-nuts for food ; eighthly, to pay a woman 

 to feed them ; and ninthly, to pay a man to watch the pigs, taro, &c, 

 during the night. Besides this, there was a charge made for trading 

 under the large tree ! This traffic seldom failed to afford much 

 amusement to the lookers-on. In the centre, near the trunk of the 



