all its members bear on their cheek a star quaintly executed with a sharp fish-bone. Here, again, the women are doomed to sober fashions, and wear their hair au naturel, which is, perhaps, the reason of their appearing sometimes remarkably pretty.

Tanna Pigs-Trading-Canvassing a Chief-Return Men-
Intending Emigrants.

BUT to return to my reception. My trade box-an old deal case with a hinged cover, previously filled from the ship with tobacco, pipes, red calico, and blue beads, as these, with adzes, are the best articles for the Tanna trade--was produced. And now signs of native produce suddenly appeared. The women, who, with the pigs and yams, had been hid in the bushes till the men could ascertain our friendly

intentions, trooped forth in hundreds, and far from showing any fear, besieged the boat with their shrill cries for beads, while the fat little children larked about in the water, and as they were not tall enough to hold on to the side of the boat, every long roll of the swell caught them unawares and washed them high and dry on the shingly beach, to be incontinently seized by their mothers and chastised with loud vociferation. I have often wondered at the imperfect idea of number which a native possesses. He grasps easily enough the idea of one pig for one axe, but three pigs for three axes bothers him. We found no difficulty in getting as many pigs as we liked for an adze apiece, but they were by no means in fine condition; and if it be true that these are the descendants of pigs left by Captain Cook in the last century, they must have wonderfully altered, or else the English breed at that time must have been very different from what it is now. They are shaped like the West Indian peccary, black and hairy, long in the leg, and hollow in every part where they should be full, and the only point in which they excel is in biting. I had on a pair of thick blue serge trousers, which seemed to strike the fancy of one of these beasts as something novel, and no sooner had he been put into the boat than he made

a dart at them, and, as he would not let go, I was obliged to let him have nearly all one leg to satisfy him.

To do the island pig justice, however, I must say that their flesh is firm, white, and well flavoured, and when fattened up on cocoa-nuts is to my taste infinitely superior to any English pork I ever tasted. During the whole cruise I lived on no other meat than pork roasted, boiled, and fried-save an occasional junk of ship's beef, and have ever since had a high opinion of Kanaka pork. The tribes living inland generally supplied these pigs, and used to bring the unhappy brutes down for miles with their legs tied together slung on a pole, two men to a pig, paying toll on their way to every tribe through whose territory they passed, which considerably took the gilt off their profits. In my subsequent dealings with the tribes living on the beach, I used to impress upon them that as I had come there for their benefit, not for my own, the produce intended for me ought to pass free, but they showed so marked a dislike to establishing this precedent that I was obliged to waive that point. Pigs were of course taken on board alive, and being given their liberty, used to run about the decks, squeaking and quarrelling amongst themselves, and

every now and then having a stand-up fight like two bulldogs. During one part of the cruise I had nearly a hundred pigs on board at a time, as the coolies used to consume at least three per diem, and I generally went armed with a stout club to save my legs while walking about the deck; as, though they took no notice of the islanders, they evidently looked upon a white man as an enemy. The surplus pigs we had were, on our return to Brisbane, eagerly bought up there by the butchers, and I have no doubt that some of their descendants have already acquired considerable colonial experience in Queensland.

A native on the look out for a bargain is a curious study of human nature. He places all his merchandise together in one heap, and then, singling out the smallest yam from the lot, brings that forward and offers it for anything it will fetch; and, if the price realised suits his book, produces another, and so on. This, of course, makes trading with the islanders rather tedious, and a matter requiring considerable experience. In old days, before so many vessels went down to the New Hebrides, the crews of the sandal-wood traders used to make a large profit out of their empty bottles.

Natives are so fond of shaving, that anything