Green Dots of the Empire. 
2 5 
than that of the other islands, and the natives 
have taro, bananas, and pumpkins to vary the 
monotonous diet of coconut and fish obtaining 
elsewhere in the Eilices, they are very subject to 
that species of eczema known as tinea desqua- 
mans (locally it is called “lafa”), While not 
incapacitating them from labour, or affecting their 
stamina or physique, it gives the subject a most 
unpleasant and disgusting appearance. It is, 
however, often curable by a residence in a 
colder climate, such as New Zealand. 
Nui, the island alluded to as possessing 
distinct and peculiar racial characteristics from 
the others, has a population of about six hundred. 
Unlike their neighbours, both to the north and 
south, whose language, customs, and traditions 
have a purely Samoan basis, the people of Nui 
are plainly the descendants of some wandering 
or drifted voyagers from the Gilbert Group, the 
inhabitants of which they resemble in language, 
customs, appearance, and demeanour. From 
what particular island the original people of 
Nui came is a mystery. There are no really 
reliable traditions of the present race that can 
throw any light on the matter. So far as they 
know they were always “Tafitos”—namely, 
