146 
MARBIAG 
CHAP. 
were perfect nightmares of hideousness, and each old 
hag seemed to be nursing a baby ; they nearly all too 
looked like great-grandmothers. We wandered about 
until it was dark, and then came back to the steamer, 
which we reached in rather a moist condition, as the 
plug had come out of the boat, and before we dis- 
covered it she had filled considerably with water. It 
was an uninteresting island, with nothing much to see ; 
there were a few native gardens with some potatoes, 
but beyond this no cultivation of any kind, and no 
native plants in blossom. 
Before daylight next morning we were away. We 
passed several small islands on the way, little more 
than coral reefs formed by those assiduous working 
insect creatures. At low tide they are almost covered 
with water, and many an unwary vessel has come to 
grief on their sharp-edged, fringed reef walls. The 
sun was just rising as we steamed into Marbiag harbour, 
and as soon as our steamer came in sight, the shore 
like magic was suddenly peopled, and the splashing of 
paddles was soon all round us. We breakfasted, 
however, on board, and it was some little time before 
we had all our belongings packed into the boat, for 
Mrs. Jardine had brought bedding, blankets, towels, and 
every requisite to make us independent of the natives. 
The shore was lined with native huts ; these are 
formed of rafters and posts of bamboo, fastened to- 
gether with split cane ; the walls and roof are thatched 
with grass and lined with plaited cocoa-nut, and the 
floor covered with a coarse sort of matting ; a hole in 
the wall does duty as a window, and the only other 
opening is the door. 
Our house is most grand — a brand new one, with 
the luxury of a table and some chairs. The natives 
always squat on the floor. They are very different 
