A.—3a

14

some bananas. The people are the most advanced we have yet visited. They were delighted to see the missionary ship, and give us a hearty reception. The population amounts to 376; and besides these there were thirty or forty natives of Nintao, a heathen island in the group, here on a visit. Before we went ashore we were struck with the appearance of the settlement, which is very pretty. A neat stone chapel stands in the foreground, behind which is the teacher's house, while on either side are ranged the houses of the natives. "Nukufetau (De Peyster Island), in lat. 7° 51' S., and long. 178° 35' E., was the next atoll at which we called. AYe arrived on Sunday, a.m. October 9th. Hero there is a large lagoon, surrounded by a coral reef, on which a number of islands have been formed. The village is on one of the larger islands. There is a passage into the lagoon by which ships may enter, so we went in and anchored. The description of Funafuti will apply equally well to Nukufetau, except that the lagoon in the latter is smaller and more circular in form. The population of the island is 202. " Nui (Netherland Island). —We reached this island tho morning after leaving Nukufetau, October 11th. It lies in lat. 7° 15' S., and long. 177° E. It is a single island, nearly circular, with a lagoon on one side of it partly open to the sea, but with no entrance for ships. Its productions are similar to those of Vaitupu, and very abundant. The people are very different from those peopling the rest of the Ellice Group. All the other islands have been peopled from Samoa. The Samoan language is the basis of theirs, and they have traditions of their forefathers being drifted from Samoa to Vaitupu, whence they spread to the other islands. On Nui, the people trace their origin to the Gilbert Group, and they speak the language of that group, which is totally different from the Samoan. Hero, for the first time, I had to speak entirely through an interpreter. The entire population is 212. " Niutao (Speiden Island).—This island is in lat. 6° 8' S., and long. 177° 22' E. It lies to windward of Nui, and we had light winds .and calms on the way, so we were more than two days in reaching it. We landed on the morning of October 15th. The island is of similar formation to tho others we had visited, but has, I was told, two lagoons. I saw one. It is very shallow, and not more than one mile across. The belt of land around is not less than from three-quarters of a mile to one milo broad. This lagoon is situated in one end of the island, and I was told there is a similar one at the other end, but I had no time to visit it. The island is plentifully supplied with cocoa-nut palms and bananas, but there is not much besides of an edible nature. At the time of our visit there was a scarcity of food on account of a long-continued drought. The population on the island at present is about 360 ; but over 100 people are away at other islands, many of them at Vaitupu. " Nunomaga (Hudson Island). —-This island lies to the west of Niutao. I determined not to detain the vessel to call at the island, but to proceed at once to the north, and visit tho Gilbert Group. " Nanomea (St. Augustine Island) is in lat. 5° 38' S., and long. 176° 17' E. This is the last island in the Ellice Group. As a call there would have taken us fifty miles to leeward of our course for the Gilbert Islands, we proceeded first to that group, and called at this island on our return south. But I will give my notice of it here, and finish with this group before describing our work in the other. "Wo reached Nanomea on Sunday morning, October 23rd. There aro two islands within three or four miles of each other, connected by a reef, which is dry at low water. The westerly island is named Lakona. It is nearly round, two miles or more across, well stocked with cocoa-nut and other trees, and has a deep fresh-water lagoon in its centre. ' Tho natives described it as being unfathomable : but by that they would only mean they cannot dive to the bottom. This and Quiros are the only two islands where I have found fresh-water lagoons. Lakena is not inhabited, but is used by the people on the other island for the cultivation of food. Nanomea is the name of the other island, which is about four miles long, by one or two wide. It has a shallow salt-water lagoon towards the east end, partially open to the sea. " The inhabitants of the island are, taken altogether, the finest race of men, so far as muscular development goes, I have ever seen. They are almost a race of giants. I believe nine out of every ten would measure six feet or more high, and their breadth is proportionate to their height. '• As a race, the Ellice Islanders are very quiet and peaceable. Quarrels are rare, and ordinary disputes are settled by the authority of the king or chiefs. On some of the islands wars are unknown. An old man on Vaitupu brought mo a hatchet made out of the back of a turtle, and I asked if it had ever been used in war. He replied that ho had never heard of war at Vaitupu. " Gilbert or Kingsmill Group. —This group of islands lies between the parallels of about 4° N. and 2° 36' S. lat., and 172° 178° E. long. There are, I believe, sixteen islands in the group, nine to the north and seven to the south of the equator. " Arorae (Hurd Island), in lat. 2° 36' S., and long. 177° E. This island is from three to four miles long. At one end it is not more than half a mile across, at the other end it appeared from the ship to be a mile and a half broad. I was told there is a small lagoon at tho wider end, but I had no time to visit it. From the number of houses, which are almost continuous for two and a half or three miles, one would suppose the population to be very great; but we only saw about four hundred, although we walked nearly the whole length over which the villages extended. The small number of people in comparison with the number of houses was soon accounted for. They had been taken away by what the Natives themselves described as 'the men-stealing vessels.' We could not find out the number who had been ' stolen,' but some said there were 'many taken, and few remaining.' When we landed, we found the people armed with knives and hatchets, while one man shouldered an old firelock and had a revolver stuck in his belt. Our vessel was at first supposed to bo a ' man-stealing ship,' and the poor creatures had determined to defend themselves against their ' civilized ' assailants. As we were approaching the shore in our boat, a canoe met us, and we informed the men of the object of our visit. Ono of them had been to a Christian island, and knew there was no harm to fear from a missionary ship ; so the canoe preceded our boat to the shore, and carried the news of our peaceful and friendly intentions. " Tamana (Botch Island), in lat. 2° 30' S. and long. 176° 7' E., was the next island at which wo called. It is not more than two and a half or three miles long, and from one to two miles wide. There is no lagoon. The island is well supplied with cocoa-nut palms and pandanus, and although it was suffering from drought when we were there, there seemed to bo no lack of food. Good water is pro-