ADMIRALTY ISLANDS. 
139 
From these peculiarities, I suspect that he may have belonged to a different tribe from the 
rest of the Wild Islanders. 
To return to my visit to D’Entrecasteaux, after having satisfied the curiosity of the 
villagers, who found new subjects of astonishment in my companions, I proceeded to sketch 
the village, my host watching every line with the greatest attention. On my showing him 
how to use the pencil and india-rubber, he added some confused scrawls to my sketch-book, 
amidst the ejaculations of his friends, to whom he imparted the knowledge just acquired. 
When one of them chanced to step in front of me, he ordered him out of the way; and 
certainly, when I remember all his attentions from the moment we met, I must describe him 
as the politest of cannibals. I had the satisfaction of seeing him rewarded with the gift of 
a hatchet, which may serve to remind him of his first lesson in drawing. 
The inhabitants of D’Entrecasteaux Island seemed to occupy a higher social scale than 
the poor fishermen of Wild Island. The village of the former, numbering about thirty huts, 
is defended by a pali¬ 
sade fifteen feet high, 
having two entrance- 
stiles, one leading down 
to the beach, the other 
into the interior of the 
island. The dwellings 
are also more solidly 
built with walls of 
wooden logs covered 
in with a high thatched 
roof. The pathways 
are neatly laid with white coral sand, and we even noticed some attempts at ornamental 
gardening. A young cocoa-nut tree planted in the centre of the principal open space was 
protected by a sort of railing. 
Good-humoured and hospitable as these natives generally are, the most trifling incident, 
and one which may completely escape the attention of the traveller, may instantly transform 
them into fierce savages filled with ungovernable rage. Though they may present themselves 
unarmed, their weapons are never far off, and before the stranger has time to turn round, 
the erewhile peaceful crowd is changed into a swarm of demons, yelling with fury, flourishing 
spears and hatchets, their bloodshot eyes glaring like those of tigers. They combine the 
simple dispositions of a child with the fierce passions of the man, and the transition is 
instantaneous. One day, while a number of men and boys were scrambling for a few strings 
of blue beads, one of them, a fine young fellow, not having succeeded in obtaining his share, 
flew into a rage, and, seizing a long pole, hurled it with such force into a hut close by as 
would have caused the instant death of any one who happened to be in the way. As he 
stood poising his weapon, he looked, with his fine muscular limbs and crest of woolly hair, a 
