i68 SOMERSET chap. 
While the girls filled their bags with shell-fish and 
eggs, I resumed my researches away from the sun in the 
dark crannies of the branching caverns, all crusted 
with sponges and corallines, tufts of sea -moss and 
starfish. I scattered a rural population of crabs and 
sea-urchins which rapidly made their way into pools 
where the tide swept the snake locks of sea-weeds, and 
stray fish of brilliant hues chased each other in and out of 
hidden cells, and bright blue shrimps shot to and fro and 
wouldn't be caught : from unseen caves came the chime 
of dropping water, and over the black, jagged cliffs jet 
sprays rose spouting out columns of foam, then pausing 
to bubble and break again in and out of deep chasms, 
leaving behind them a white, seething sheet of foam. 
With graceful ease and strength my two sea nymphs 
rowed me back to the shore again, to a palm-fringed 
hut buried in a thicket of bananas, and here I joined 
Mrs. Jardine. We squatted on the floor in accordance 
with local manners, each choosing his neighbour accord- 
ing to his sympathy, and made our tea off shell-fish and 
yams. Heaven, as a counterpoise to my felicity, had 
mixed with its honey a strong dose of bitters. A 
liquid decoction of cocoa-nut flowers (which for polite- 
ness' sake I had been over-persuaded to drink) had 
such a bad effect on me, that I feared for a time I was 
going to be detained for ever in this land which I intended 
to quit next day. Their usual practice here of cutting 
the skin and drawing blood from the affected parts 
was too heroic a remedy for me, and I had to foi^et 
for a day the necessity of eating. 
We bargained with tobacco for curios. The natives 
sang and danced until two in the morning, making 
the night hideous with yells and shouts of revelry ; and 
at six next morning, when we were ready for a start, 
there wasn't a native stirring in camp. 
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