In the Morning. 
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heat, even though the plumed palms are sway¬ 
ing and bending to the full day force of the 
brave south-east trade, and the wide expanse 
of ocean blue is flecked with chips of white. 
Wandering, sun-loving pigs stretch themselves 
upon the sandy space before the trader’s house, 
and lie there contentedly, head to wind, grunting 
out the satisfaction they feel from the hot, baking 
sand. Here and there along the margin of the 
yellow beach, white and blue cranes stand in 
solemn gravity to watch for straggling garfish 
brought shoreward by the incoming tide, which 
is swirling in deep-drawn eddies through the 
reef-bound passage a mile away. 
Now from the village comes the sound of 
voices, and parties of men appear with spears 
and fishing-tackle in their hands ; canoes are 
launched, and with wild cries the crews shoot 
their slender craft swiftly over the breaking 
surf into the rolling sea beyond. Along the 
winding line of inshore reef that trends north¬ 
ward from the little bay, walk women and girls, 
nude to their hips, and wearing over their eyes 
sunshades of green coconut-leaf. Each one 
carries a basket slung upon her back by a band 
of hibiscus bark, and in her hand a small scoop- 
