138 
FROM HONG-KONG TO YOKOHAMA. 
me to follow him, and away we went at a rapid pace through the wood, over the stile in 
the tall palisade which surrounded the village, and along its clean-looking paths, strewn 
with coral sand, to his hut, from which he brought out a log for me to sit on. Here, with 
my new friend beside me, I soon found myself surrounded by a crowd, mostly women and 
children, as nearly all the men were at the beach. Happily I had the means of ingratiating 
myself by distributing the much-coveted beads, with which I had filled my pockets. My 
host, who appeared to be a man of note, seemed a little displeased at being left without 
his share. If the crowd, gathered in a semicircle before me, stared with wonder at the first 
white man they had ever seen—and there is no record of these islands having been visited 
by a European ship since the time of D’Entrecasteaux—I was not a little uneasy at being 
made the sole object of their attention, and might have felt rather nervous had I known that 
they were accustomed 
“To eate the flesh of men whom they mote fynde”—- 
as subsequent discoveries gave us strong reasons to suspect. On one occasion, when enquiring 
by pantomime whether they would like to eat Sam, a Newfoundland dog, and a universal 
favourite on board the “ Challenger,” they expressed great disgust; but when we pointed 
to ourselves, their delight at the idea seemed unbounded. The total absence of graves, 
as well as the discovery of human bones mixed with the bones of animals used for food, 
were circumstances equally suspicious. When some of the natives found that skulls were a 
desideratum with our naturalists, they brought a number of them to the ship, and exchanged 
them for hoop iron, knives, and hatchets. I do not think it would be libellous to say that 
for a sufficient consideration they would have parted with their own living relatives, and 
evidently would have had no objection to sell the bones of their ancestors. 
On our first arrival the natives apparently believed that our white complexion was the 
result of paint — judging at least from the extreme curiosity with which they examined and 
felt the skin of our faces, arms, and legs, as if to 
satisfy themselves that they were not “ made up.” They 
are very fond of painting themselves. The individual 
with the big shock of woolly hair, represented in the 
sketch, afforded one day immense amusement, by appearing 
with his body entirely painted in green and scarlet, the 
colours being arranged in large elegantly-curved patches. 
It seems our tars had presented him with a few pots of 
paint. This same young man seldom left the ship’s 
side, and was, indeed, a general favourite. Our attention 
was directed to him because, unlike the rest, he did not 
tie up his hair, nor did he chew betel, so that he was 
the only man who, so far as we observed, could boast of having a perfect set of white teeth. 
Moreover, he was the most good-humoured, amiable-looking savage we had yet met with. 
