*74 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
storm-worn hull, putting in to refresh ere she 
sailed northward and westward to the Moluccas ; 
or a white-painted, blackbirding brig from the 
Gilbert Islands, her armed decks crowded with 
wild-eyed, brown-skinned naked savages, who 
came to toil on the German plantations ; or a 
Sydney trading schooner such as was ours— 
long, low, and lofty sparred. Then, too, an 
English or American man-of-war would look 
in now and again to see how things were going, 
and perhaps try some few land cases which were 
brought before the captain, or make inquiries 
about that Will o’ the Wisp of the ocean, 
Captain Bully Hayes. And the air was full of 
rumours of annexation by one of the great 
Powers interested in Samoa, and the Americans 
mistrusted the English, and the English the 
Americans, and they both hated the Germans as 
much as the Samoans hated them. 
One day I set out to pay a visit to a native 
friend—a young chief named Gafalua (Two 
Fathoms). And a very good name it was, too, 
for he was a man who stood over six feet on 
his naked feet. He lived at a pretty little 
village named Laulii, a few miles northward 
