n went off in their
canoes; Popo and the white boy being taken out in that of the chief.
Popo found that they were engaged in diving for pearl-oysters. The
white lad appeared to be among the best of their divers. He fearlessly
plunged overboard with a net and a small axe--the net being attached to
the boat by a line; and when his net was hauled up it was invariably
full of oysters. The chief made signs to Popo that he must do the same.
Though he was a good swimmer, he had never been accustomed to diving;
but the white boy showed him how he could accomplish the feat, and after
some practice he was able to go down, and succeeded almost as well as
his companion.

Since he had been there, three vessels had come and purchased all the
pearls which had been collected, when he and the white boy had been
carried off some way from the shore, so that they might not communicate
with the crews. After each visit paid by the pearl-traders, all the men
in the village had become excessively tipsy; and on the first two
occasions they, fearing that they might be ill-treated, had run off and
hidden themselves, though they did not escape punishment. Popo had
begun to learn his companion's language; which he spoke, however, in a
way very different from the natives. They were thus able to communicate
with each other.

Only the day before our arrival another trader had gone away, and at the
present time every man in the village was drunk. As the old chief had
on previous occasions beaten them, when he came to himself, for not
having some pearls ready for him, they had come off in the canoe by
themselves, and were engaged in fishing,--for so it may be called,--when
we found them.

Such is an outline of the account Popo gave me.

All the time I was talking to Popo, the lad had his eyes fixed intently
on me, as if he was endeavouring to understand what we were saying.

"And you, Popo," I asked; "are you glad to escape from the savages?"

"Yes, massa; dat I am," answered Popo.

"And do you think your companion is the same?" I added, looking towards
him.

"Yes, yes," said the white boy, looking up at me.

"Why, you must be English; you have thoroughly understood what I said,"
I exclaimed.

"Me tink so too," observed Popo.

The commander, who had been listening to what we had been saying, now
called Tamaku aft, and desired him to try if he could understand the
white boy, who after he had last spoken seemed abashed, and could no