398 



MASSACRE ISLANDS. 



[1830 



took off and presented their feather bonnets or chaplets, which were 

 very ingeniously put together, and tastefully ornamented with red coral. 

 From some of the young girls I received several neatly-worked mats, 

 which they gave me to understand were intended for me to sleep on. 



By this time our party had increased to about four hundred natives ; 

 when suddenly, to my great surprise, a song was struck up, in which 

 they all joined their voices ; old and young — men, women, and chil- 

 dren. From the manner and gestures of the vocalists, this was evi- 

 dently addressed to me, and intended as an expression of gratitude for 

 the presents they had received Taking this for granted, I endeavoured 

 by appropriate signs, gestures, bows, and smiles, to return my thanks 

 for the compliment. Politeness is a universal language, and is in- 

 stantly comprehended and appreciated by every class of people, from 

 the courtly Frenchman to the poor despised Hottentot. 



At the close of this concert I gave Nero to understand that I wished 

 to take a view of the island, and requested the honour of his company, 

 to which he cheerfully assented, taking with him several of his princi- 

 pal courtiers, of both sexes. Six men, by their chiefs direction, walked 

 on before us as guides and pioneers. I was unarmed, aware that the 

 best security for my personal safety was the implicit confidence I placed 

 in my conductors, who certainly appeared to be the most harmless, in- 

 nocent, and inoffensive race of mortals I had ever met with. As we 

 proceeded through the forest, they tried every artifice to amuse me, 

 playing, and jumping, and running, and capering about, like so many 

 "children, just let loose from school." 



Every thing that came under my observation, during this excursion, 

 wore the appearance of youth and freshness, as if the whole island 

 was a modern creation. All the trees were quite young, and most of 

 the fruit trees had been recently planted. In passing through the woods 

 I saw some plants bearing a profusion of beautiful red blossoms, which 

 Nero informed me were cultivated expressly for personal ornaments. 

 Near the centre of the island, my attention was arrested by small heaps 

 of coral, piled up in regular rows, with only footpaths between them, 

 and enclosed with a kind of fence, formed by pickets or stakes driven 

 into the earth. This, Nero informed me, was their royal burying- 

 ground, and the piles of coral were the tombs. None but chiefs and 

 warriors of distinction were buried here, or permitted to pass within 

 the fence. The bodies of the common people were thrown into the 

 sea. A coral tomb — the maw of sharks ! 



"While I was meditating on the distinctions of worldly rank, which 

 extend thus down to the very dust,"* we reached the south-west point 

 of the island, where I selected a beautiful spot for my intended pur- 

 pose; which was to erect a suitable building for curing biche-de-mer ; 

 for unless this valuable production of the ocean be timely and properly 

 cured, it is good for nothing. I selected this spot as being convenient 

 to our anchorage, and at the same time surrounded by the necessary 

 fuel, of an excellent quality. I had contemplated this point from the 

 Antarctic's deck, and my principal object in going on shore was to in- 



* Washington Irviag, 



