her into the house leaving and me to follow here by sign language unmistakable we were informed that all they possessed was ours no was ever more generous in the expression of giving while i am sure that few were ever as generous in the actual practice we quickly discovered that we dare not admire their possessions for whenever we did admire a particular object it was im the high seat of abundance presented to us the two according to the way of got together in a discussion and examination of feminine while and i went over fishing tackle and wild to say nothing of the device whereby are caught on forty foot poles from double admired a sewing basket � the best example she had seen of it was hers i admired a hook carved in one piece from a pearl shell it was mine was attracted by a fancy of straw thirty feet of it in a roll sufficient to make a hat of any design one wished the roll of was hers my gaze lingered upon a that dated back to the old stone days it was mine dwelt a moment too long on a wooden bowl shaped with four legs all carved in one piece of wood it was hers i glanced a second time at a gigantic it was mine then and i held a conference in which we resolved to admire no more � not because it did not pay well enough but because it paid too well also we were already brains over the contents of the for suitable return presents christmas is an easy problem compared with a giving feast we sat on the cool porch on s best while dinner was preparing and at same time met the villagers in and and groups they strayed along shaking hands and uttering the word of greeting � pronounced yo the men big fellows were in with here and there no shirt while the women wore the universal a sort of that flows in the of the the high seat of abundance graceful lines from the shoulders to the ground sad to see was the that afflicted some of them here would be a comely woman of magnificent proportions with the port of a queen yet by one arm four times � or a dozen times � the size of the other beside her might stand a six foot man erect mighty with the body of a god yet with feet and so swollen that they ran together forming legs monstrous that were for all the world like elephant legs no one seems really to know the cause of the south sea one theory is that it is caused by the drinking of water another theory attributes it to through a third theory charges it to the process of on the other hand no one that stands in dread of it and similar diseases can to travel in the south seas there will be occasions when such a one must drink water there may be also occasions when the let up biting but every precaution of the one will be useless if he runs across the beach to have a swim he will tread where an case trod a few minutes before if he himself in his own house yet every bit of fresh food on his table will have been subjected to the be it flesh fish fowl or vegetable in the public market at two known run and heaven alone knows through what channels arrive at that market the daily supplies of fish fruit meat and vegetables the only happy way to go through the south seas is with a careless without apprehension and with a christian science like faith in the fortune of o the of the your own particular star when you see a woman afflicted with wringing out cream from meat with her naked hands drink and reflect how good is the cream forgetting the hands that pressed it out also remember that diseases such as and do not seem to be caught by contact we watched a woman with swollen distorted limbs prepare our cream and then went out to the cook shed where and were cooking dinner and then it was served to us on a box in the house our hosts waited until we were done and then spread their table on the floor but our table we were certainly in the high seat of abundance first there was glorious raw fish caught several hours before from the sea and the intervening time in lime with water then came roast chicken two sharply sweet served for drink there were that tasted like and that melted in the mouth and there was that made one regret that his yankee ever attempted then there was boiled boiled and m which last are nothing more or less than large red colored cooking we at the abundance and even as we a pig was brought on a whole pig a pig in green leaves and upon the hot stones of a native oven the most honorable and triumphant dish in the and after that came black delicious native grown on the of s fishing tackle fascinated me and after we arranged to go fishing and i decided to re the high seat of abundance main all night again and again my brought the disappointment and the smile of acquiescence to his face was my next port it was not so far away but that made the passage back and forth between it and so i invited to go that far with us on the then i learned that his wife had been born on and still owned a house there she likewise was invited and immediately came the counter invitation to stay with them in their house in it was monday tuesday we would go and return to wednesday we would sail by and off a certain point a mile 