XII 
OLD BEN 
167 
that they liked me, and hoped I would come again be- 
cause I wasn’t “ flash.” I felt the honour. I didn’t like 
taking the yams, as I could give nothing in return ; 
they heard me telling this to Mrs. Jardine, and said, 
“ We want nothing in return ; it is our custom to give 
to strangers, and we like to see you sitting here as one 
of us. ; ’ 
We were up very early in the morning, and went off 
to the Albatross for breakfast. At eleven o’clock Court 
was held. Five or six charges were brought and proved 
against “ Dirty Johnstone,” who seems to be a very 
bad man, and has already been tried once for murder. 
After Court we had another marriage ; the bride this 
time was very grandly dressed in a square-patterned 
bright blue print ; a green silk necktie tied behind with 
the points forming a bib in front, a sailor hat trimmed 
with pink ribbons and a scarlet feather, and a big 
scarlet pocket-handkerchief completed her costume. 
We dined in one of the South Sea Island houses, 
and then went off to see “ Old Ben,” a well-known man 
here, with a most benevolent face, who takes and cares 
for all the motherless children on these two islands. 
He had a very large and well-built house, and while 
Mr. Savage and Mr. Roberts smoked with him, I ate 
sugar bananas, and made a sketch of the inside sur- 
roundings, which were of a miscellaneous character. 
Coming back, I was taken possession of by a band 
of mothers, and I afterwards went with two native girls 
in a little canoe to a small island, the home of thou- 
sands of sea-gulls. A sudden breath of wind let loose, 
seized us and whirled us along to the rich brown 
stricken rocks, that grazed our frail bark and threw us 
starboard and larboard without the least regard to any 
prejudices in favour of equilibrium, and we were sprayed 
from head to foot before we landed. 
