168 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
thus employed, the native whose oar he had seized, 
leaning over the side of the boat, grasped him by 
the tail, succeeded in lifting him out of the water, 
and, with the help of his companions, dragged 
him alive into the boat, where he began to flounder 
and strike his tail with rage and violence. Mr. 
Tyerman and myself, for we were sailing together, 
were climbing up on the seats out of his way, but 
the natives, giving him two or three blows on the 
nose with a small wooden mallet, quieted him, 
and then cut off his head. We landed the same 
evening, when I believe they baked and ate him. 
The single canoes, though safer at sea, are yet 
liable to accident, notwithstanding the outrigger, 
which requires to be fixed with care, to prevent 
them from upsetting. To the natives this is a 
matter of slight inconvenience, but to a foreigner 
it is not always pleasant or safe. Mrs.O.smond, 
Mrs. Barff, Mrs. Ellis, and myself, with our two 
children, and one or two natives, were once crossing 
the small harbour at Fa-re, in Huahine ; a female 
servant was sitting in the fore part of the canoe, 
with our little girl in her arms, our infant boy was 
at his mother's breast, and a native, with a long light 
pole, was paddling or pushing the canoe along, 
when a small buhoe, with a native youth sitting in 
it, darted out from behind a bush that hung over 
the water, and before we could turn, or the youth 
could stop his canoe, it ran across our outrigger. 
This in an instant went down, our canoe was turned 
bottom upwards, and the whole party precipitated 
into the sea. The sun had set soon after we 
started from the opposite side, and, the twilight 
being very short, the shades of evening had 
already thickened around us, which prevented the 
natives on the shore from perceiving our situation* 
