ÂMONA; THE CHILD; AND THE BEAST Plus THE SNAKE AND THE BELL and SOUTH SEA NOTES From "The Strange Adventure Of James Shervinton and Other Stories" By Louis Becke T. FISHER UNWIN, 1902 LONDON ÂMONA; THE CHILD; AND THE BEAST' Âmona was, as his master so frequently told him--accentuating the remarkwith a blow or a kick--only "a miserable kanaka. " Of his miserablenessthere was no doubt, for Denison, who lived in the same house as he did, was a daily witness of it--and his happiness. Also, he was a kanaka--anative of Niué, in the South Pacific; Savage Island it is called by thetraders and is named on the charts, though its five thousand sturdy, brown-skinned inhabitants have been civilised, Christianised, and havelived fairly cleanly for the past thirty years. Âmona and Denison had the distinction of being employed by Armitage, oneof the most unmitigated blackguards in the Pacific. He was a shipowner, planter, merchant, and speculator; was looked upon by a good many peopleas "not a bad sort of a fellow, you know--and the soul of hospitality. "In addition, he was an incorrigible drunken bully, and broke his wife'sheart within four years after she married him. Âmona was his cook. Denison was one of his supercargoes, and (when a long boat ofdrunkenness made him see weird visions of impossible creatures) managerof the business on shore, overseer, accountant, and Jack-of-all-trades. How he managed to stay on with such a brute I don't know. He certainlypaid him well enough, but he (Denison) could have got another berth fromother people in Samoa, Fiji, or Tonga had he wanted it. And, althoughArmitage was always painfully civil to Denison--who tried to keephis business from going to the dogs--the man hated him as much as hedespised Âmona, and would have liked to have kicked him, as he wouldhave liked to have kicked or strangled any one who knew the secret ofhis wife's death and his child's lameness. And three people in Samoa didknow it--Âmona, the Niué cook, Dr. Eckhardt, and Denison. Armitage hasbeen dead now these five-and-twenty years--died, as he deserved todie, alone and friendless in an Australian bush hospital out in theGod-forsaken Never-Never country, and when Denison heard of his death, he looked at the gentle wife's dim, faded photograph, and wondered ifthe Beast saw her sweet, sad face in his dying moments. He trustednot; for in her eyes would have shown only the holy light of loveand forgiveness--things which a man like Armitage could not haveunderstood--even then. She had been married three years when she came with him to Samoa to liveon Solo-Solo Plantation, in a great white-painted bungalow, standingamid a grove of breadfruit and coco-palms, and overlooking the seato the north, east, and west; to the south was the dark green of themountain-forest. "Oh! I think it is the fairest, sweetest picture in the world, " she saidto Denison the first time he met her. She was sitting on the verandahwith her son in her lap, and as she spoke she pressed her lips to hissoft little cheek and caressed the tiny hands. "So different from whereI was born and lived all my life--on the doll, sun-baked plains of theRiverina--isn't it, my pet?" "I am glad that you like the place, Mrs. Armitage, " the supercargo saidas he looked at the young, girlish face and thought that she, too, withher baby, made a fair, sweet picture. How she loved the child! And howthe soft, grey-blue eyes would lose their sadness when the little oneturned its face up to hers and smiled! How came it, he wondered, thatsuch a tender, flower-like woman was mated to such a man as Armitage! Long after she was dead, Denison heard the story--one common enough. Her father, whose station adjoined that of Armitage, got into financialdifficulties, went to Armitage for help, and practically sold hisdaughter to the Beast for a couple of thousand pounds. Very likely sucha man would have sold his daughter's mother as well if he wanted money. * * * * * As they sat talking, Armitage rode up, half-drunk as usual. He was a bigman, good-looking. "Hallo, Nell! Pawing the damned kid as usual! Why the hell don't you letone of the girls take the little animal and let him tumble about on thegrass? You're spoiling the child--by God, you are. " "Ah, he's so happy, Fred, here with me, and----" "Happy be damned--you're always letting him maul you about. I want awhisky-and-soda, and so does Denison--don't you?" And then the Beast, assoon as his wife with the child in her arms had left the room, beganto tell his subordinate of a "new" girl he had met that morning in JoeD'Acosta's saloon. "Oh, shut up, man. Your wife is in the next room. " "Let her hear--and be damned to her! She knows what I do. I don'tdisguise anything from her. I'm not a sneak in that way. By God, I'm notthe man to lose any fun from sentimental reasons. Have you seen thisnew girl at Joe's? She's a Manhiki half-caste. God, man! She's glorious, simply glorious!" "You mean Laea, I suppose. She's a common beacher--sailor man's trull. Surely you wouldn't be seen ever speaking to _her?_" "Wouldn't I! You don't know me yet! I like the girl, and I've fixedthings up with her. She's coming here as my nursemaid--twenty dollars amonth! What do you think of that?" "You would not insult your wife so horribly!" He looked at Denison sullenly, but made no answer, as the supercargowent on: "You'll get the dead cut from every white man in Samoa. Not a soul willput foot inside your store door, and Joe D'Acosta himself would refuseto sell you a drink! Might as well shoot yourself at once. " "Oh, well, damn it all, don't keep on preaching. I--I was more in funthan anything else. Ha! Here's Âmona with the drinks. Why don't you be abit smarter, you damned frizzy-haired man-eater?" Amona's sallow face flushed deeply, but he made no reply to the insultas he handed a glass to his master. "Put the tray down there, confound you! Don't stand there like ablarsted mummy; clear out till we want you again. " The native made no answer, bent his head in silence, and stepped quietlyaway. Then Armitage began to grumble at him as a "useless swine. " "Why, " said Denison, "Mrs. Armitage was only just telling me that he'sworth all the rest of the servants put together. And, by Jove, he _is_fond of your youngster--simply worships the little chap. " Armitage snorted, and turned his lips down. Ten minutes later, he wasasleep in his chair. ***** Nearly six months had passed--six months of wretchedness to the youngwife, whose heart was slowly breaking under the strain of living withthe Beast. Such happiness as was hers lay in the companionship of herlittle son, and every evening Tom Denison would see her watching thechild and the patient, faithful Âmona, as the two played together on thesmooth lawn in front of the sitting-room, or ran races in and out amongthe mango-trees. She was becoming paler and thinner every day--the Beastwas getting fatter and coarser, and more brutalised. Sometimes he wouldremain in Apia for a week, returning home either boisterously drunk orsullen and scowling-faced. In the latter case, he would come into theoffice where Denison worked (he had left the schooner of which he wassupercargo, and was now "overseering" Solo-Solo) and try to grasp themuddled condition of his financial affairs. Then, with much variegatedlanguage, he would stride away, cursing the servants and the placeand everything in general, mount his horse, and ride off again to thesociety of the loafers, gamblers, and flaunting unfortunates who hauntedthe drinking saloons of Apia and Matafele. One day came a crisis. Denison was rigging a tackle to haul a tree-trunkinto position in the plantation saw-pit, when Armitage rode up to thehouse. He dismounted and went inside. Five minutes later Amona camestaggering down the path to him. His left cheek was cut to the bone bya blow from Armitage's fist. Denison brought him into his own room, stitched up the wound, and gave him a glass of grog, and told him tolight his pipe and rest. "Àmona, you're a _valea_ (fool). Why don't you leave this place? Thisman will kill you some day. How many beatings has he given you?" Hespoke in English. "I know not how many. But it is God's will. And if the master some daykilleth me, it is well. And yet, but for some things, I would use myknife on him. " "What things?" He came over to the supercargo, and, seating himself cross-legged on thefloor, placed his firm, brown, right hand on the white man's knee. "For two things, good friend. The little fingers of the child areclasped tightly around my heart, and when his father striketh me andcalls me a filthy man-eater, a dog, and a pig, I know no pain. That isone thing. And the other thing is this--the child's mother hath come tome when my body hath ached from the father's blows, and the blood hathcovered my face; and she hath bound up my wounds and wept silent tears, and together have we knelt and called upon God to turn his heart fromthe grog and the foul women, and to take away from her and the child thebitterness of these things. " "You're a good fellow, Âmona, " said Denison, as he saw that the man'scheeks were wet with tears. "Nay, for sometimes my heart is bitter with anger. But God is good tome. For the child loveth me. And the mother is of God. .. Aye, and shewill be with Him soon. " Then he rose to his knees suddenly, and lookedwistfully at the supercargo, as he put his hand on his. "She will bedead before the next moon is _ai aiga_ (in the first quarter), for atnight I lie outside her door, and but three nights ago she cried out tome: 'Come, Amona, Come!' And I went in, and she was sitting up onher bed and blood was running from her mouth. But she bade me tell noone--not even thee. And it was then she told me that death was nearto her, for she hath a disease whose roots lie in her chest, andwhich eateth away her strength. Dear friend, let me tell thee of somethings. .. This man is a devil. .. . I know he but desires to see her die. He hath cursed her before me, and twice have I seen him take the childfrom her arms, and, setting him on the floor to weep in terror, take hiswife by the hand----" "Stop, man; stop! That'll do. Say no more! The beast!" "_E tonu, e tonu_ (true, true), " said the man, quietly, and stillspeaking in Samoan. "He is as a beast of the mountains, as a tiger ofthe country India, which devoureth the lamb and the kid. .. . And so now Ihave opened my heart to thee of these things----" A native woman rushed into the room: "Come, Âmona, come. _Misi Fafine_(the mistress) bleeds from her mouth again. " The white man and the brown ran into the front sitting-room together, just as they heard a piercing shriek of terror from the child; then camethe sound of a heavy fall. As they entered, Armitage strode out, jolting against them as he passed. His face was swollen and ugly with passion--bad to look at. "Go and pick up the child, you frizzy-haired pig!" he muttered hoarselyto Amona as he passed. "He fell off his mother's lap. " Mrs. Armitage was leaning back in her chair, as white as death, andtrying to speak, as with one hand she tried to stanch the rush of bloodfrom her mouth, and with the other pointed to her child, who was lyingon his face under a table, motionless and unconscious. In less than ten minutes, a native was galloping through the bush toApia for Dr. Eckhardt. Denison had picked up the child, who, as he cameto, began to cry. Assuring his mother that he was not much hurt, hebrought him to her, and sat beside the lounge on which she lay, holdinghim in his arms. He was a good little man, and did not try to talkto her when the supercargo whispered to him to keep silent, but laystroking the poor mother's thin white hand. Yet every now and then, ashe moved or Denison changed his position, he would utter a cry of painand say his leg pained him. Four hours later the German doctor arrived. Mrs. Armitage was asleep; soEckhardt would not awaken her at the time. The boy, however, had sleptbut fitfully, and every now and then awakened with a sob of pain. The nurse stripped him, and Eckhardt soon found out what was wrong--aserious injury to the left hip. Late in the evening, as the big yellow-bearded German doctor and Denisonsat in the dining room smoking and talking, Taloi, the child's nurseentered, and was followed by Amona, and the woman told them the wholestory. "_Misi Fafine_ was sitting in a chair with the boy on her lap when themaster came in. His eyes were black and fierce with anger, and, steppingup, he seized the child by the arm, and bade him get down. Then thelittle one screamed in terror, and _Misi Fafine_ screamed too, and themaster became as mad, for he tore the boy from his mother's arms, andtossed him across the room against the wall. That is all I know of thisthing. " Denison saw nothing of Armitage till six o'clock on the followingmorning, just as Eckhardt was going away. He put out his hand, Eckhardtput his own behind his back, and, in a few blunt words, told the Beastwhat he thought of him. "And if this was a civilised country, " he added crisply, "you would benow in gaol. Yes, in prison. You have as good as killed your wifeby your brutality--she will not live another two months. You have soinjured your child's hip that he may be a cripple for life. You are adamned scoundrel, no better than the lowest ruffian of a city slum, andif you show yourself in Joe D'Acosta's smoking-room again, you'll findmore than half a dozen men--Englishmen, Americans and Germans--ready tokick you out into the _au ala_" (road). Armitage was no coward. He sprang forward with an oath, but Denison, whowas a third less of his employer's weight, deftly put out his right footand the master of Solo Solo plantation went down. Then the supercargosat on him and, having a fine command of seafaring expletives, threatened to gouge his eyes out if he did not keep quiet. "You go on, doctor, " he said cheerfully. "I'll let you know in thecourse of an hour or two how Mrs. Armitage and the boy are progressing. The seat which I am now occupying, though not a very honourable one, considering the material of which it is composed, is very comfortablefor the time being; and"--he turned and glared savagely at Armitage'spurpled face--"You sweep! I have a great inclination to let Eckhardtcome and boot the life out of you whilst I hold you down, you brute!" "I'll kill you for this, " said Armitage hoarsely. "Won't give you the chance, my boy. And if you don't promise to go toyour room quietly, I'll call in the native servants, sling you up likethe pig you are to a pole, and have you carried into Apia, where youstand a good show of being lynched. I've had enough of you. Everyone--except your blackguardly acquaintances in Matafele--would be gladto hear that you were dead, and your wife and child freed from you. " Eckhardt stepped forward. "Let him up, Mr. Denison. " The supercargo obeyed the request. "Just as you please, doctor. But I think that he ought to be put inirons, or a strait-jacket, or knocked on the head as a useless beast. Ifit were not for Mrs. Armitage and her little son, I would like to killthe sweep. His treatment of that poor fellow Amona, who is so devoted tothe child, has been most atrocious. " Eckhardt grasped the supercargo's hand as Armitage shambled off "He's abrute, as you say, Mr. Denison. But she has some affection for him. Formyself, I would like to put a bullet through him. " Within three months Mrs. Armitage was dead, and a fresh martrydom beganfor poor Amona. But he and the child had plenty of good friends; andthen, one day, when Armitage awakened to sanity after a long drinkingbout, he found that both Amona and the child had gone. Nearly a score of years later Denison met them in an Australian city. The "baby" had grown to be a well-set-up young fellow, and Amona thefaithful was still with him--Amona with a smiling, happy face. They camedown on board Denison's vessel with him, and "the baby" gave him, erethey parted, that faded photograph of his dead mother. THE SNAKE AND THE BELL When I was a child of eight years of age, a curious incident occurred inthe house in which our family lived. The locality was Mosman's Bay, oneof the many picturesque indentations of the beautiful harbour of Sydney. In those days the houses were few and far apart, and our own dwellingwas surrounded on all sides by the usual monotonous-hued Australianforest of iron barks and spotted gums, traversed here and there bytracks seldom used, as the house was far back from the main road, leading from the suburb of St. Leonards to Middle Harbour. The buildingitself was in the form of a quadrangle enclosing a courtyard, on towhich nearly all the rooms opened; each room having a bell over thedoor, the wires running all round the square, while the front-door bell, which was an extra large affair, hung in the hall, the "pull" being oneof the old-fashioned kind, an iron sliding-rod suspended from the outerwall plate, where it connected with the wire. One cold and windy evening about eight o'clock, my mother, my sisters, and myself were sitting in the dining-room awaiting the arrival of mybrothers from Sydney--they attended school there, and rowed or sailedthe six miles to and fro every day, generally returning home by dusk. Onthis particular evening, however, they were late, on account of the windblowing rather freshly from the north-east; but presently we heard thefront-door bell ring gently. "Here they are at last, " said my mother; "but how silly of them to go tothe front door on such a windy night, tormenting boys!" Julia, the servant, candle in hand, went along the lengthy passage, and opened the door. No one was there! She came back to the dining-roomsmiling--"Masther Edward is afther playin' wan av his thricks, ma'am----" she began, when the bell again rang--this time vigorously. Myeldest sister threw down the book she was reading, and with an impatientexclamation herself went to the door, opened it quickly, and saidsharply as she pulled it inwards-- "Come in at once, you stupid things!" There was no answer, and shestepped outside on the verandah. No one was visible, and again the bigbell in the hall rang! She shut the door angrily and returned to her seat, just as the bellgave a curious, faint tinkle as if the tongue had been moved ever sogently. "Don't take any notice of them, " said my mother, "they will soon gettired of playing such silly pranks, and be eager for their supper. " Presently the bell gave out three clear strokes. We looked at eachother and smiled. Five minutes passed, and then came eight or ten gentlestrokes in quick succession. "Let us catch them, " said my mother, rising, and holding her fingerup to us to preserve silence, as she stepped softly along the hall, wefollowing on tiptoe. Softly turning the handle, she suddenly threw the door wide open, justas the bell gave another jangle. Not a soul was visible! My mother--one of the most placid-tempered women who ever breathed, nowbecame annoyed, and stepping out on the verandah, addressed herself tothe darkness-- "Come inside at once, boys, or I shall be very angry. I know perfectlywell what you have done; you have tied a string to the bell wires, andare pulling it. If you don't desist you shall have no supper. " No answer--except from the hall bell, which gave another half-heartedtinkle. "Bring a candle and the step-ladder, Julia, " said our now thoroughlyexasperated parent, "and we shall see what these foolish boys have doneto the bell-wire. " Julia brought the ladder; my eldest sister mounted it, and began toexamine the bell. She could see nothing unusual, no string or wire, andas she descended, the bell swayed and gave one faint stroke! We all returned to the sitting room, and had scarcely been there fiveminutes when we heard my three brothers coming in, in their usual way, by the back door. They tramped into the sitting room, noisy, dirty, wet with spray, and hungry, and demanded supper in a loud and collectedvoice. My mother looked at them with a severe aspect, and said theydeserved none. "Why, mum, what's the matter?" said Ted; "what _have_ we been doingnow, or what have we not done, that we don't deserve any supper, afterpulling for two hours from Circular Quay, against a howling, blacknorth-easter?" "You know perfectly well what I mean. It is most inconsiderate of you toplay such silly tricks upon us. " Ted gazed at her in genuine astonishment. "Silly tricks, mother! Whatsilly tricks?" (Julia crossed herself, and trembled visibly as the bellagain rang. ) My mother, at once satisfied that Ted and my other brothers really knewnothing of the mysterious bell-ringing, quickly explained the cause ofher anger. "Let us go and see if we can find out, " said Ted. "You two boys, andyou, Julia, get all the stable lanterns, light them, and we'll start outtogether--two on one side of the house and two on the other. Some onemust be up to a trick!" Julia, who was a huge, raw-boned Irish girl, as strong as a workingbullock, but not so graceful, again crossed herself, and began to weep. "What's the matter with you?" said Ted angrily. "Shure, an' there was tirrible murders committed here in the ouldconvict days, " she whimpered. "The polace sargint's wife at SintLeonards tould me all about it. There was three souldiers murdered downbeyant on the beach, by some convicts, whin they was atin' their supper, an' there's people near about now that saw all the blood and----" "Stop it, you great lumbering idiot!" shouted Ted, as my eldest sisterbegan to laugh hysterically, and the youngest, made a terrified dart tomother's skirts. Ted's angry voice and threatening visage silenced Julia for the moment, and she tremblingly went towards the door to obey his orders when thebell gave out such a vigorous and sustained peal that she sank down ina colossal heap on the floor, and then went into violent hysterics. (Iassure my readers that I am not exaggerating matters in the slightest. ) My mother, who was a thoroughly sensible woman, pushed the whole broodof us out of the room, came after us, shut the door and locked it. _She_knew the proper treatment for hysterics. "Let her stay there, boys, " she said quietly, "she will hurt thefurniture more than herself, the ridiculous creature. Now, Ted, you andyour brothers get the lanterns, and the little ones and myself will gointo the kitchen. " We ran out into the stables, lit three lanterns, and my next eldestbrother and myself, feeling horribly frightened, but impelled to showsome courage by Ted's awful threats of what he would do to us if we"funked, " told us to go round the house, beginning from the left, andmeet him at the hall door, he going round from the right. With shaking limbs and gasping breath we made our portion of thecircuit, sticking close to each other, and carefully avoiding looking atanything as we hurried over the lawn, our only anxiety being to meetTed as quickly as possible and then get inside again. We arrived on theverandah, and in front of the hall-door, quite five minutes before Tedappeared. "Well, did you see anything?" he asked, as he walked up the steps, lantern in hand. "Nothing, " we answered, edging up towards the door. Ted looked at us contemptuously. "You miserable little curs! What areyou so frightened of? You're no better than a pack of women and kids. It's the wind that has made the bell ring, or, if it's not the wind, it is something else which I don't know anything about; but I want mysupper. Pull the bell, one of you. " Elated at so soon escaping from the horrors of the night, we seized thehandle of the bell-pull, and gave it a vigorous tug. "It's stuck, Ted. It won't pull down, " we said. "Granny!" said the big brother, "you're too funky to give it a properpull, " and pushing us aside, he grasped the pendant handle and gave asharp pull. There was no answering sound. "It certainly is stuck, " admitted Ted, raising his lantern so as to geta look upwards, then he gave a yell. "Oh! look there!" We looked up, and saw the writhing twisting, coils of a huge carpetsnake, which had wound its body round and round the bell-wire on topof the wall plate. Its head was downwards, and it did not seem atall alarmed at our presence, but went on wriggling and twisting andsquirming with much apparent cheerfulness. Ted ran back to the stables, and returned in a few seconds with aclothes-prop, with which he dealt the disturber of our peace a fewrapid, but vigorous, blows, breaking its spine in several places. Thenthe step-ladder was brought out, and Ted, seizing the reptile by thetail, uncoiled it with some difficulty from the wire, and threw it downupon the verandah. It was over nine feet in length, and very fat, and had caused all thedisturbance by endeavouring to denude itself of its old skin by draggingits body between the bell-wire and the top of the wall. When Ted killedit the poor harmless creature had almost accomplished its object. SOUTH SEA NOTES I That many animals, particularly cattle and deer, are very fond of saltwe all know, but it is not often that birds show any taste for it, or, if so, the circumstance has not generally been noted. In 1881, however, the present writer was residing on Gazelle Peninsula, the northernportion of the magnificent island of New Britain in the South Pacific, and had many opportunities of witnessing both cockatoos and wild pigeonsdrinking salt water. I was stationed at a place called Kabaira, the then"furthest-out" trading station on the whole island, and as I had butlittle to do in the way of work, I found plenty of time to study thebird-life in the vicinity. Parrots of several varieties, and all ofbeautiful plumage, were very plentiful, and immense flocks of whitecockatoos frequented the rolling, grassy downs which lay between my homeand the German head-station in Blanche Bay, twenty miles distant, whilethe heavy forest of the littoral was the haunt of thousands of pigeons. These latter, though not so large as the Samoan, or Eastern Polynesianbird, formed a very agreeable change of diet for us white traders, andby walking about fifty yards from one's door, half a dozen or more couldbe shot in as many minutes. My nearest neighbour was a German, and one day when we were walkingalong the beach towards his station, we noticed some hundreds of pigeonsfly down from the forest, settle on the margin of the water, anddrink with apparent enjoyment. The harbour at this spot was almostland-locked, the water as smooth as glass without the faintest ripple, and the birds were consequently enabled to drink without wetting theirplumage. My companion, who had lived many years in New Britain, told methat this drinking of sea-water was common alike to both cockatoos andpigeons, and that on some occasions the beaches would be lined withthem, the former birds not only drinking, but bathing as well, andapparently enjoying themselves greatly. During the following six months, especially when the weather was calmand rainy, I frequently noticed pigeons and cockatoos come to the saltwater to drink. At first I thought that as fresh water in many placesbubbled up through the sand at low tide, the birds were really notdrinking the sea-water, but by watching closely, I frequently saw themwalk across these tiny runnels, and make no attempt to drink. Thenagain, the whole of the Gazette Peninsula is out up by countless streamsof water; rain falls throughout the year as a rule, and as I have said, there is always water percolating or bubbling up through the sand onthe beaches at low tide. What causes this unusual habit of drinkingsea-water? Another peculiarity of the New Britain and New Ireland pigeon is itsfondness for the Chili pepper-berry. During three months of the year, when these berries are ripe, the birds' crops are full of them, and veryoften their flesh is so pungent, and smells so strongly of the Chili, asto be quite uneatable. * * * * * On all of the low-lying islands of the Ellice, Kings-mill and GilbertGroups, a species of snipe are very plentiful. On the islands whichenclose the noble lagoon of Funafuti in the Ellice Group, they are tobe met with in great numbers, and in dull, rainy weather, an ordinarilygood shot may get thirty or forty in a few hours. One day, accompaniedby a native lad, I set out to collect hermit crabs, to be used as fishbait. These curious creatures are to be found almost anywhere in theequatorial islands of the Pacific; their shell houses ranging in sizefrom a pea to an orange, and if a piece of coco-nut or fish or any otheredible matter is left out overnight, hundreds of hermits will be foundgathered around it in the morning. To extract the crabs from theirshells, which are of all shapes and kinds, is a very simple matter--thehard casing is broken by placing them upon a large stone and strikingthem a sharp blow with one of lesser size. My companion and myself sooncollected a heap of "hermits, " when presently he took one up in hishand, and holding it close to his mouth, whistled softly. In a fewmoments the crab protruded one nipper, then another, then its redantennae, and allowed the boy to take its head between his finger andthumb and draw its entire body from its shell casing. "That is the way the _kili_ (snipe) gets the _uga_ (crab) from itsshell, " he said. "The _kili_ stands over the _uga_ and whistles softly, and the _uga_ puts out his head to listen. Then the bird seizes it inhis bill, gives it a backward jerk and off flies the shell. " Now I had often noticed that wherever hermit crabs were plentiful alongthe outer beaches of the lagoon, I was sure to find snipe, and sometimeswondered on what the birds fed. Taking up two or three "hermits" oneby one, I whistled gently, and in each case the creature protruded thenippers, head and shoulders, and moved its antennæ to and fro as ifpleasurably excited. On the following day I shot three snipe, and in the stomachs of each Ifound some quite fresh and some partly digested hermit crabs. The thick, hard nippers are broken off by the bird before he swallows the soft, tender body. ***** In a recent number of _Chambers's Journal_ the present writer was muchinterested in a short paragraph dealing with the commercial value of theskin of the shark, and, having had many years' experience as atrader and supercargo in the South Seas, desires to add some furtherinformation on a somewhat interesting subject. In all the equatorial islands of the North and South Pacific, sharkfishing is a very profitable industry to the natives, and every tradingsteamer or sailing vessel coming into the ports of Sydney or Aucklandfrom the islands of the mid-Pacific, always brings some tons of sharkfins and tails and shark skins. The principal market for the former isHong Kong, but the Chinese merchants of the Australasian Colonies willalways buy sharks' fins and tails at from 6d. To 11d. Per lb. , the finsbringing the best price on account of the extra amount of glutinousmatter they contain, and the which are highly relished by the richerclasses of Chinese as a delicacy. The tails are also valued as anarticle of food in China; and, apart from their edible qualities, have afurther value as a base for clear varnishes, &c. ; and I was informedby a Chinese tea-merchant that the glaze upon the paper coverings oftea-chests was due to a preparation composed principally of the refuseof sharks' fins, tails, and skins. All the natives of the Gilbert, Kingsmill, and other Pacific equatorialislands are expert shark fishermen; but the wild people of Ocean Island(Paanopa) and Pleasant Island (Naura), two isolated spots just under theequator, surpass them all in the art of catching jackshark. It was thefortunate experience of the writer to live among these people for manyyears, and to be inducted into the native method of shark-catching. Infrail canoes, made of short pieces of wood, sewn together with coco-nutfibre, the Ocean Islanders will venture out with rude but ingeniouslycontrived _wooden_ hooks, and capture sharks of a girth (_not_ length)that no untrained European would dare to attempt to kill from awell-appointed boat, with a good crew. Shark-catching is one of _the_ industries of the Pacific, and a verypaying industry too. Five-and-twenty years ago there were quite a dozenor more schooners sailing out of Honolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands, tothe isolated atolls of the North Pacific--notably Palmyra and ChristmasIslands--where sharks could be caught by the thousand, and the crews, who were engaged on a "lay, " like whalemen, made "big money"; many ofthem after a six months' cruise drawing 500 dollars--a large sum for anative sailor. The work is certainly hard, but it is exciting, and the writer willalways remember with pleasure a seven months' shark-fishing cruisehe once had in the North Pacific, the genial comrades--white men andbrown--and the bag of dollars handed over to him by the owners when theship was paid off in Honolulu. II It is not generally known, except to scientists and those who areacquainted with the subject, that a large percentage of the variousspecies and varieties of sea snakes are highly venomous. These snakesmust not be confounded with the very numerous species of sea eels, which, though exceedingly savage and armed with strong needle-pointedteeth, are all non-venomous, though their bite produces highinflammation if not at once properly attended to and cleansed by anantiseptic. The sea snake is a true snake in many respects, havingeither laminated scales or a thick corduroyed skin resemblingrudimentary scales. The head is flat, and the general structure of thebody similar to that of the land snake. Whether any of them possess thetrue poison glands and fangs I do not know, for although I have killedmany hundreds of them I never took sufficient interest to make a carefulexamination; and I was told by a Dutch medical gentleman, long residenton the coast of Dutch New Guinea, and who had made some investigation onthe subject, that he had failed to discover any poison sacs or glands inany one of the several snakes he had captured. Yet in some instances hefound what at first appeared to be the two long front teeth common tovenomous land snakes, but on detailed examination these always proved tobe perfectly solid; nevertheless a bite from one of these sea serpentswas generally regarded by the natives as fatal; in my own experienceI know of two such cases, one at the island of Fotuna in the SouthPacific, and the other in Torres Straits. In Sigavi Harbour, on Fotuna, there is a rock to which vesselsoccasionally make fast their stern moorings. In the boat which I sentaway with a line to this rock were several boys, natives of the island, who went with the crew for amusement. One of them, aged about ten, jumped out of the boat, and in his hurry fell on his hands and knees, right on top of a large black and white banded sea snake, which at oncebit him savagely on the wrist, causing the blood to flow from a score oftiny punctures. The boy at once swam on shore to be treated by a native;in the evening I heard he was suffering great agony, in the morning thepoor little fellow was dead. The second instance was near Raine Island, in Torres Straits. A stalwartyoung Kanaka, one of the crew of a pearling lugger, was diving for clamshells on the reef, when a snake about three feet in length suddenlyshot up from below within a foot of his face. In his anger and disgusthe unthinkingly struck it with his hand, and was quickly bitten on theforefinger. A few hours later he was in a high fever, accompanied withtwitchings of the extremities; then tetanus ensued, followed by death inforty-eight hours. Although these sea snakes are common to all tropical seas, they are mostfrequent about the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. On any smoothday they may be seen disporting themselves on the surface, or risingsuddenly from the depths, erect their heads and some inches of theirbodies clear from the water, gaze at the passing vessel, and thenswiftly disappear. In nearly all the Pacific Islands the natives holdthem in detestation and horror, and when one is seen lying coiled up ona rock sunning itself or crawling over the surface of the reef in searchof food, a stone, accompanied by a curse, is always hurled at it. In theEllice Oroup, when catching flying-fish at night, one (or more) of thesehorrid serpents is sometimes swept up in the scoop-net before it can beavoided. They range from six inches to nearly four feet in length, andall have one feature--a blunted tail-end. Quite recently much further light has been thrown on the subject by SirJames Hector, of the Philosophical Society of Wellington, New Zealand. At one of the Society's meetings, held in April last, Sir James showedseveral specimens of _hydrida_, some from Australasian Seas, othersfrom the Atlantic. The usual habitat of sea snakes, he said, were thetropical seas generally, but some had been captured in the comparativelycold waters of the New Zealand coast, at the Catlins River. These latterwere all yellow-banded; those from the islands of the Fijian Oroup wereblack-banded, and those taken from the Australian coast grey-banded. There were, he said, no fewer than seventy species, which, withoutexception, were fanged and provided with glands secreting a virulentpoison. In some of the mountainous islands of the South Pacific, such asSamoa, Fiji, &c, there were several species of land snakes, all of whichwere perfectly harmless, and were familiar to many people in Australiaand New Zealand, through being brought there in bunches of islandbananas--it was singular, he thought, that the sea snakes alone shouldbe so highly venomous. "They were all characterised by the flattenedor blunted tail, which they used as a steer oar, and were often foundasleep on the surface of the water, lying on their backs. In this statethey were easily and safely captured, being powerless to strike. " Thepresent writer, who has seen hundreds of these marine snakes dailyfor many years, during a long residence in the Pacific Islands, cannotremember a single instance where he has seen one of these dangerouscreatures asleep _on the water_, though they may frequently be foundlying asleep on the coral reefs, exposing themselves to the rays of atorrid sun. They usually select some knob or rounded boulder, from thetop of which, when awake, they can survey the small pools beneath anddiscern any fish which may be imprisoned therein. In such case they willglide down into the water with astonishing rapidity, seize their prey, and after swallowing it, return to their sun bath. The natives of thePaumotu Archipelago informed me, however, that they are most activein seeking their prey at night-time, and are especially fond offlying-fish, which, as is well known, is one of the swiftest of allocean fishes. The sea snakes, however, seize them with the greatestease, by rising cautiously beneath and fastening their keen teeth in thefish's throat or belly. A snake, not two feet six inches in length, Iwas assured, can easily swallow a flying-fish eight inches or ten incheslong. With regard to their habit of lying asleep on their backs on the surfaceof the water, it may be that Sir James Hector is alluding to someparticular species, but whether that is so or not Sir James's statementmust of course be considered authoritative, for there is, I believe, nohigher authority on the subject in the world. Apropos of these venomousmarine serpents I may mention that the Rev. W. W. Gill in one of hisworks states that he was informed by the natives of the Cook's Groupthat during the prevalence of very bad weather, when fish were scarce, the large sea eels would actually crawl ashore, and ascend the _fala_(pandanus or screw-pine) trees in search of the small green lizardswhich live among the upper part of the foliage. At first I regarded thismerely as a bit of native extravagance of statement, but in 1882, whenI was shipwrecked on Peru (or Francis Island), one of the Gilbert Group, the local trader, one Frank Voliero, and myself saw one of these eelsengaged in an equally extraordinary pursuit. We were one evening, after a heavy gale from the westward had been blowing for three days, examining a rookery of whale birds in search of eggs; the rookery wassituated in a dense thicket scrub on the north end of the island, andwas quite two hundred yards from the sea-shore, though not more thanhalf that distance from the inside lagoon beach. The storm had destroyedquite a number of young, half-fledged birds, whose bodies were lying onthe ground, and busily engaged in devouring one of them was a very largesea eel, as thick as the calf of a man's leg. Before I could manage tosecure a stick with which to kill the repulsive-looking creature, itmade off through the undergrowth at a rapid pace in the direction of thelagoon, and when we emerged out into the open in pursuit, ten minuteslater, we were just in time to see it wriggling down the hard, slopingbeach into the water. Instinct evidently made it seek the nearest water, for none of these large sea eels are ever found in Peru Lagoon. Many of the rivers and lakes of the islands of the Western Pacific aretenanted by eels of great size, which are never, or very seldom, as faras I could learn, interfered with by the natives, and I have never seenthe people of either the Admiralty Islands, New Ireland, or New Britaintouch an eel as food. The Maories, however, as is well known, areinordinately fond of eels, which, with putrid shark, constitute one oftheir staple articles of diet. In the few mountainous islands of the vast Caroline Archipelago, inthe North-western Pacific, eels are very plentiful, not only in thenumberless small streams which debouch into the shallow waters enclosedby the barrier reefs, but also far up on the mountainsides, occupying little rocky pools of perhaps no larger dimensions than anordinary-sized toilet basin, or swimming up and down rivulets hardlymore than two feet across. The natives of Ponapé, the largest islandof the Caroline Group, and of Kusaie (Strong's Island), its easternoutlier, regard the fresh-water eel with shuddering aversion, and shoulda man accidentally touch one with his foot when crossing a stream hewill utter an exclamation of horror and fear. In the heathen days--downto 1845-50--the eel (tôan) was an object of worship, and constantlypropitiated by sacrifices of food, on account of its malevolent powers;personal contact was rigidly avoided; to touch one, even by the merestaccident, was to bring down the most dreadful calamities on the offenderand his family--bodily deformities, starvation and poverty, and death;and although the natives of Strong's Island are now both civilised andChristianised, and a training college of the Boston Board of Missionshas long been established at Port Lelé, they still manifest the samesuperstitious dread of the eel as in their days of heathendom. I wellremember witnessing an instance of this terror during my sojourn on theisland when I was shipwrecked there in 1874. I had taken up my residencein the picturesque little village of Leassé, on the western or "lee"side, when I was one evening visited by several of the ship's company--aFijian half-caste, a white man, and two natives of Pleasant Island. Atthe moment they arrived I was in the house of the native pastor--aman who had received an excellent education in a missionary college atHonolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands--instructing him and his family in theart of making _taka_, or cinnet sandals, as practised by the nativesof the Tokelau Group. Just then the four seamen entered, each mantriumphantly holding up a large eel: in an instant there was a unitedhowl of horror from the parson and his family, as they made a rash forthe door, overturning the lamp and nearly setting the house on fire. Invain I followed and urged them to return, and told them that the men hadgone away and taken the _tôan_ with them--nothing would induce them toenter the house that night, and the whole family slept elsewhere. One singular thing about the eels on Strong's Island is that theyhibernate, in a fashion, on the sides or even summits of the highmountains, at an altitude of nearly two thousand feet. Selecting, orperhaps making, a depression in the soft, moss-covered soil, the uglycreatures fit themselves into it compactly and remain there for weeks oreven months at a time. I have counted as many as thirty of these holes, all tenanted, within a few square yards. Some were quite concealed byvegetable _débris_ or moss, others were exposed to view, with the broad, flat head of the slippery occupant resting on the margin or doubled backupon its body. They showed no alarm, but if poked with a stick wouldextricate themselves and crawl slowly away. In the streams they were very voracious, and I had a special antipathyto them, on account of their preying so on the crayfish--a crustaceanof which I was particularly fond, and which the natives also liked verymuch, but were afraid to capture for fear their hands might come incontact with the dreaded _tôan_. One afternoon I was plucking a pigeon I had just shot by the margin of amountain stream. After removing the viscera, I put the bird in the waterto clean it properly, and was shaking it gently to and fro, when it wassuddenly torn out of my hand by a disgustingly bloated, reddish-colouredeel about four feet in length, and quickly swallowed. That one pigeonhad cost me two hours' tramping through the rain-soddened mountainforest, so loading my gun I followed the thief down stream to where thewater was but a few inches deep, and then blew his head off.