The Takno. 
161 
initiated into the method of capture by Harry’s 
boat’s crew, who were natives of Pleasant 
Island, a lonely spot situated just south of 
the Equator, and between long. 165° and 
170° W. These Pleasant Islanders are expert 
deep-sea fishermen ; they are an offshoot of 
the Gilbert Islands people, and, although of a 
fierce and intractable nature, are much sought 
after and valued by isolated traders in Micro¬ 
nesia and Polynesia for their fidelity to white 
men, their great bodily strength, and the 
aversion they have to mix even with natives 
who are allied to them in language, customs, 
and mode of life generally. By the Samoans 
and other Eastern Polynesians the Pleasant 
Islanders are as much dreaded as are the 
warlike natives of Rubiana by the rest of 
the inhabitants of the murderous Solomon 
Group. My friend had over thirty of these 
people working for him on Ngatik—men, 
women, and children. They had followed his 
fortunes for some years, and, hot-tempered and 
quarrelsome as they were with strangers, they 
served him with the most unquestioning loyalty 
and obedience. On this occasion he had over 
a dozen men with him in the boat, and as they 
12 
