276 Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
brother of the chief of the district, conceived an 
ardent affection for a young woman who was 
employed as a servant by a German trader 
named Wolff. She was of foreign blood, being 
a native of Arrecifos, or Providence Island 
(North-West Pacific), from whence she had been 
brought by the trader during her childhood. 
Possessed of ample means, the young man 
sought to show his affection in the most ex¬ 
travagant manner by making the girl presents 
of all sorts of articles, both European and 
native. Among his gifts to her was a hand¬ 
worked sewing machine—-just then coming into 
use among the natives of the Marshall Group— 
and a keg of salt meat. Both of these were 
bought from a white trader at a high price— 
about five times their English value—and were 
subsequently bought back by him (the trader) 
from the girl for a few dollars. Her object in 
selling them was, she said, to make her lover a 
present. The money she at once expended in the 
purchase of tobacco and a small clasp-knife ; and 
her lover, instead of being, as would be imagined, 
angry at her conduct, expressed the greatest 
delight at receiving such a proof of her regard. 
A few months later it was my happy privilege 
