MARCH AGAINST THE REBELS. 225 
wore a pareu reaching to his knees. He had a 
drummer’s jacket on, highly ornamented, and 
scarlet-coloured; it was, however, too small for 
him to get it on his back, or to pass his muscular 
arms through the sleeves; it was therefore fixed 
on the outside of his pareu, the body of the jacket 
hanging down in place of the skirts of a coat, while 
the sleeves, passing round his waist, were tied in 
a knot in front. His equipment was in perfect 
accordance with his uniform, for the only weapon 
that he had was a short brass-barrelled blunder¬ 
buss, called by the natives vaha rahi, or great- 
mouth. 
Although the events of the morning had been 
such as wiere adapted to awaken very different 
feelings, yet when he turned round his good- 
natured face to bid me farewell, I could not for¬ 
bear smiling. His person, dress, arms, and a habit 
of leaning forwards, which, as he hastened by, 
exhibited very fully the scarlet jacket, rendered his 
appearance ludicrous in the extreme. 
When the parties had all started, we returned to 
the valley to breakfast, but. were surprised, as we 
passed through the settlement, to behold almost every 
house deserted. We inferred that those women 
and children who had not accompanied the men 
to Parea, had retired to places of greater security, 
or better observation. After breakfast, we spent 
some time in prayer that no blood might be shed, 
but that the issue of the interview between the 
rival parties might be conciliatory. We then 
launched our boat, fixed our masts and rudder, 
twisted up our matting sails, and waited, not with¬ 
out anxiety, the arrival of intelligence. 
The chiefs, before they left, had appointed the 
following signals. If there was no resistance made 
III. Q 
