The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-11-20
the light all can. 1t was taken by a
travelling photographer in New Britain


just before But it's all have left
OF her There's only the boy and
alone now"
A smile lit up his thin face. Here
he is" he exclaimed, as fine little
fellow of about 10 rushed into the
room. "Faa- mole mole, pa" began the
youngster, in that strange mixture Of
Samoan and English which half caste
boys speak in this country. Then he
stopped, noticing my presence.
"All right, Jacky,' said the father,
giving the curly head a kindly pat, "go
and say talofa to the gentleman" And
bashfully the boy, who had not seen a
strange white man for months, held
out his hand, and then took the first
opportunity of escaping from the room
to join his playmates outside.
He's all have left" continued the
trader, "and I'm doing my best to
bring him up as an Englishman. But
what. can | do here? He must play
with the Samoan boys, or with no one,
and cannot afford to send him away
to school. The little girls better off;
she's gone with a missionary to Sgd
ney, and he takes good care of her.
She'll grow up into white lady, sup
pose, some day, and won't know her
old father"
There was a long pause, and we
drank more kava and smoked in ST.
lence. Then the old gentleman became
reminiscent
i "She was 3 years old when the old
, woman died. and the boy here, well, he
could just toddle about, holding on to
his mothers skirts. There We're some
, who blamed me for taking her to that
outlandish New Britain, where the peo-
pie are real savages, and not civilized,
like here But what was to do? I'd
been trading for McAlister & Co.
you've heard Of them. l suppose-when
the firm broke up, and l was left
stranded on the beach. l hadn't had
chance to save much, and there were
the wife and child to keep. When (
got the offer to go to New Britain and
open up some new trading stations,
jumped at it, without thinking over
much of the risk
II was FOOL know, and now-if
could only take it all backw He took
another cup of kava to hide his emo.
ton.
could think of nothing appropriate
to say, so sat and waited, while the
girl, squatting on the floor, looked up
IN her masters face and thoughtfully
began to prepare a second bowl of ka-
va.
A ocf In nod fy,o
ratiye: eve got on all right as long
as we We're at the head station, where
there We're several whites, and the ma.
tives had in way learned some man.
ners. But when went away to dis,
tant parts of the isle to open up new
stations began to feel sorry that I'd
brought the missis with me. But sha
would not hear of going back, not she!
She swore she'd stick to me through
end
But, to cut long story short, we
opened up three or four stations safely
enough. We used to go, just ourselves,
in a boat with our boxes of trade and
a crew of four boys from the Duke of
York's isle. They were more afraid of
being eaten than we were, so they
stuck to us pretty close.
ut was the cheek of the thing did it,
and l wonder now, when look back,
that we were not killed and cooked u
dozen times over. The natives simply
could not understand white man
coming among them like that all alone,
and they were so astonished that they
forgot to attack us. They were poor
lot of savages, going about quite naked,
and if you gave one of them piece of
print he would hang it around his neck
and walk away as proud as Punch.
They were always fighting among
themselves and thought no more of
killing man than we would of shoot
ing a pigeon. Why. I've seen young
fellow executed there just for stealing
a cocoanut off chiefs tree, and if
they had dared they would have killed
me as readily for the sake of my trade.
"They hadn't much to buy goods
with, either-a little copra and some
beche demer and pearl shells. They
wanted axes and tomahawks and
knives; but, most of all, they wanted
tobacco pipes-common clay tobacco
pipes. What they did with them l
don't know, for they did not buy any
tobacco; kept them as sort of idol or
fetch, suppose. They would sell ev-
erything they had to get pipe, and
especially black one, and it was be-
cause of those cursed pipes that lost
my wife. and nearly lost my own life
too. Perhaps it might have been as
well,'' he added despondently.
Nonsense, man." | interposed, as
cheerfully as l could. "but how did it
happen? Tell me all about it,
sit was the fourth place was at,
| think, wild part, where no mis-
sionary had ever dared to set his foot.
We warss g lang waS from the main
station. and had 20 depend upon my
self entirely. 1t was up at the head of
deep bay, and there We're lot of
mangroves, remember, growing along
the beach, and then you went up a
steep bank 10 or II feet high. on top
Of which was the village.
swell, the chief was very glad to see
1