THEIR SPORTS. 
181 
sailing of little boats, which they enter for cham- 
pionship in spirited regattas. A tiny fellow can, 
from the soft sago-palm stem, himself shape and 
set with sail, and fit with rudder and oars, 
an excellent miniature of -the pratm his father 
sails. They also build forts of sand, just like 
our boys at home, and defend them against their 
comrade foes with balls of wet mud, as our boys 
cannot always do. One tumble in the sea re- 
moves all trace of the fray from these little 
naked savages, while no end of brushing would 
be necessary to clean little English boys' suits. 
The older lads, and sometimes the men, used to 
look on with much pleasure at this play, and the 
shout of laughter which hailed a good hit told 
their enjoyment and interest. The chief game 
is, however, one of more skill and precision, and 
although very little lads try it, the grown youths, 
and even the men, take part in it. It is played 
with discs cut off the top of the conus shell, and 
each player has two, one of w T hich he places in a 
depression in the ground, and with the other he 
takes aim from a crease a few yards distant. 
Passing his right hand holding the disc round to 
his left side as far as he can stretch, and steady- 
ing it with his left, he takes aim with eager, 
glancing eye ; then advancing with a run, he de- 
