AN OS(mATORT SALUTE. 



suddenly I was astonislied hj a siuiilar salutation on 

 the lips i It was done so quickly tliat I liad no time 

 to recover from my bewildering surprise, and coolly 

 explain that such was not the custom in my land 

 Instead of my laughing at the Kesident^s expense, 

 the whole party laughed at mine ; but my confusion 

 ^vas dispelled by the assurance of all that even the 

 govemor-general himself had to submit to such treat- 

 ment when he came to iuspect these islands. Besides, 

 I was made aware that the fault was largely my own, 

 and that, when I leaned backw^ard to laugh, the fair 

 one behind me had misinterpreted the movement as 

 a challenge (which she certainly seemed not loath to 

 accept). At every village we had to mn a similar 

 gantlet, and I must confess that several times it oc- 

 curred to me that the youngest member of tlie party 

 certainly received his shai*e of such tender attention, 

 and that many of these beauties, fiona Uwm, were de- 

 tennined to improve theu* present opportunity for 

 fear that they might never again have the privilege 

 of kissing a gentleinan vrith a white face. 



The Resident's duties, while on a tour of inspection, 

 consist chiefly in visiting and examining the schools, 

 of which there is one in every village on this island, 

 except at one place where two kampongs, which are 

 near each other, have one in common. On Sapania 

 also thirteen out of the sixteen villages are each 

 provided with a school, and on Haruku eleven vih 

 lages are supplied with six schools, so distributed 

 over the island as to be accessible to all. The facili- 

 ties, therefore, afforded by the Dutch Government to 

 these natives to acquii'e a good common education are 

 13 



