The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-06-04

vegetables, and manned by braWny blacks, push off from shore and are padded hurriedly away in pursuit of the distant ship. At long intervals ves- sels are intercepted in this way, but usually the canoe men return disconso- late from a fruitless chase
 The soil is very fertile, cocoanuts, ba- nanas, yams, oranges, sweet potatoes and Hines being raised In abundance. Vast droyes of hogs and immense floclSs of chickens abound, but neither horses, cows. goats, sheep, nor fowl, with the single exception named, are on the is- land, No grain is raised, owing to lack of seed, for the rich soil would yield ample harvests were seed procured and planted. Port charges, consisting of one fathom of cloth, one plug of tobac- co, and bottle of molasses, are paid to the governor for his own use by crafts arriving. After the payment of the port charges, so called, the entire popu- lation constitutes a guard of honor to further the interests of the ship, and work cheerfully in theblazing sunshine, bearing wood on their heads from the mountain to the ship for one fathom of cloth day.
 The women own the islands wood, while the men claim the fruit crops. Money is almost unknown there, all commerce being carried on by barter; nor do the people set much store by the islands products, a piece of cotton cloth the size of a pocket handkerchief being exchangeable for a couple of punches of ripe bananas. A whale scrap-a minute bit of blubber, from which the oil mas been extracted by cooking and pressing-will pass as legal tender, and yield its owner small hog, while a barrel of salted blackfish meat tainted and loathsome, will purchase fruit sufficient to load two whaleboats
 Once year a Spanishman- of-war ar- rives, heaves to off the port, and lands mails and provisions for the missiona- ries, but no natives are allowed to go on board, consequently these ships are not included in ''the kings thirteen. ]" When a whaler or merchant ship runs in for the island the waters become dotted with scores of canoes, fashioned from logs, and crowded with natives, each of whom strives to be first along side. When they reach the ship they tumble on board with all speed, often, in their haste, forgetting to make fast, when, seeing their property going adrift, they plunge overheard and swim away in pursuit. It seems to matter not to them how they get on board so long as they get there. Excitable and impulsive always, they appear, for the nonce, half demented, and singularly inattentive to the possibilities of dan- ger arising from a collision or capsize under the bow of the oncoming ship. Right in the course of the flying ship they mass their canoes, tapping and pounding together in the swell, unheed- ing altogether the wildly shouted com mand from the ship to clear the way. Not until the big jibboom looms above their heads, and the shearing, clean-c cut stem seems about to cleave forcefully through the tangle of uncouth boats, do they appear to notice the danger, so huge, so imminent Then, with light ning-like thrusts of the paddles, the canoes are swung directly in line with the ships course, quick turns of cocoa nut fibre ropes are made around the bobstay, forechains, or other parts of the hull and in twinkling the decks are filled with a throng of bustling, grinning blacks, their number aug mented a little later by the arrival of the crews of the canoes that composed the outer ranks of the flotilla, who, having clambered across the canoes in- tervening, and hand over hand up the careened sides, help to swell the babel of sound that ensues.
 nr Ior te train dozen or more canoes hooked on anyhow and anywhere along its sides, each deserted by all living things save the young porkers and chickens that, brought for traffic, squeal and cackle their dissatisfaction with the whole proceeding, while off on each quarter, dropping gradually astern, go other ca noes with occupants, unsuccessful in their first attempt at boarding, bawling Justify, Back a mainyard!"
 Occasionally, despite the marvellous dexterity of the canoists, a boat is struck squarely and ridden under, or a buffet from the bluff, glancing blow, swamps it. and not infrequently half a dozen boats attached to vessels sides overturn one after another during the
 
 sometimes natives, go sweeping astern. The fowl and animals, with limbs tied, perish, of course, at such times, but the blacks, as much at home apparently in the water as are the fish beneath, and in nowise disconcerted by the mishap, swim swiftly to the capsized crafts set adrift by their more fortunate com rades, and go to work nonchalently picking up the scattered merchandise. The natives, on boarding, have each a dozen or more strings of beads around their necks, one of which the wearer attempts to throw about the neck of a sailor This proceeding, according to their views, makes the sailor the par ticular friend of the native who decora- ted him. One string only can be placed about each sailors neck, and as each native desires sailor "chum," with all the perquisites pertaining, an occasion al quid of tobacco or hard tack, and natives are many while sailors are few, the decks are animated directly the blacks gain access.
 Should sailor chance to be aloft on such an occasion, some one of the blacks, anxious to be first to decorate him, runs up the ratlines eagerly, if clumsily.
 Once a craft pays port charges, no further tribute is exacted during the governors administration, though the craft may visit the port again ere his term expires.
 cfn Sc -of hrr nNrl1 1e-