47 
Guiart Is staying in the Lemonmon house the people offered us when I 
visited there this afternoon, but Don and I have elected to stay with 
our supplies at Tarasag, since we hope to examine all the 30-odd school 
children here tomorrow, and some others as well. This school has 32 
students now, three having been sent home as "trouble makers." It has 
only classes 2 and 4 this year, because the teachers cannot cover more. 
The teachers are Norah Rorona, Head Teacher from Pentecost, and Nicholas 
Brown from Mota. 
Our arrival here and itinerary for the day has been complex. Thus, 
we finally embarked from Merlg at about 9 a.m., very satisfied with the 
work we had finished there. The one to two hours of passage from Merig 
to Gaua we used for cleaning up and washing clothes, then I shaved, as I 
do once after each island thus far! Frangoise kindly sewed up my torn 
trousers, the split crotch in the Chinese shorts, etc. — and Jean Guiart 
washed my few soiled clothes with his in the ship’s washing machine. I 
showered, ate a good lunch, and rushed to the bridge to help the Captain 
find Losolava Plantation, which we first passed by without noticing. We 
had gone around too far northwest, and had to return a few miles to locate 
the reefs and the passage through the reef to Bay at Losolava. 
Leslie, our guide pilot from Merlg, knew what he was looking for, but his 
sight is so poor that he could not recognize where we were on the coast. 
We finally found the passage and slipped far in between the two sides of 
the break in the reef, and dropped anchor about a half mile from Losolava 
Plantation, on the eastern end, near Namasari village. The entire school 
population from Tarasag, and the two teachers and much of Lobot and 
Namasari villages were waiting there to greet us. We landed in two loads 
in the small boat, and then brought in a load of small supplies which 
the school children could carry and set off on a two mile walk through 
Namasari, Lobot (where there is a dispensary and a nurse. Sister Hilda 
Leo from Pentecost) , Nume, and finally Tarasag. The whole trek is some- 
what over two miles, along a hibiscus-lined track, and only gently undu- 
lating leaving the coast at times to round points. The Tarasag school 
and village have large cut grass fields around it and it lies directly on 
the coast . The recent hurricanes have destroyed the church, and a temp- 
orary new church is erected. 
Soon after arriving at Tarasag, I set off with a group of Merig boys for 
their hours at Lemonmon village, and sat there for over an hour, getting 
information about the villages around the island. Clockwise from Losolava: 
Losolava Plantation 
Namasari '' 
Lobot y 
Nume 
Tarasag ^ 
Lemonmon 
Lembal 
Kwltlon 
Doriu J 
Language I 
Merlg Language 
Merelava Language (Lekwel & Lewetmese) 
Language II 
