218 RECEPTION ” OF INFANTS. 
out. On my inquiring the reason, it was ex- 
plained that the lending out of the linen of 
European families to half-castes and natives for 
great occasions is quite a trade. The linen cast 
aside for washing is scarcely soiled, and if not 
rendered unfit for wear by crushing, it will 
surely be lent out for a few cents to some dark 
youth, to gratify his vanity by appearing among 
his comrades with a white shirt. A lady who 
was invited to a native feast, to her surprise 
found the table decked with one of her own 
finest tablecloths. 
By G a.m. most mornings we have a “ recep- 
tion ” of infants, brought by their baboos, and 
accompanied by the elder children of the family 
— fair, sweet little things, with faces blanched 
by the tropical climate almost to the whiteness 
of their own frocks. It sometimes happens that 
in the same family, when one parent has a little 
colour, one child is blond-haired and as fair as a 
lily, while its brother or sister has jet-black hair 
and skin as swarthy as a full-blooded natives. 
H. went to the island of Bourou within a few 
days of our arrival here, leaving me behind, since 
I was quite unfit to travel. Just before he left 
we had the opportunity, through the kindness of 
our hostess, of seeing a native wedding, and I 
