beach, where the pouring rain soon washed them
clean and showed them in all their shining beauty. Among them were two
or three parrot-fish--rich carmine, striped with bands of bright yellow,
boneless fins, and long protruding teeth in the upper jaw showing out
from the thick, fleshy lips; and one _afulu_--a species of deep-water
sand mullet with purple scales and yellow fins.

Whilst awaiting the rest of the canoes I drew the teacher into our hut
and pressed him to take some whisky. He was wet, cold, and shivering,
but resolutely declined to take any. "I should like to drink a little,"
he said frankly, "but I must not. I cannot drink it in secret, and yet I
must not set a bad example. Do not ask me, please. But if you like to
give some to the old men do so, but only a very little." I did do so. As
soon as the rest of the party landed I called up four of the oldest men
and gave each of them a stiff nip. They were all nude to the waist, and
like all Polynesians who have been exposed to a cold rain squall, were
shivering and miserable. After each man had taken his nip and emitted a
deep sigh of satisfaction I observed that hundreds of old white men
saved their lives by taking a glass of spirits when they were wet
through--they had to do so by the doctor's orders.

"That is true," said one old fellow; "when men grow old, and the rain
falls upon them it does not run off their skins as it would from the
smooth skins of young men. It gets into the wrinkles and stays there.
But when the belly is warmed with grog a man does not feel the cold."

"True," I said gravely, as I poured some whisky out for myself; "true,
quite true, my dear friends. And in these islands it is very bad for an
old man to be exposed to much rain. That is why I am disturbed in my
mind. See, there is Mareko, your minister. He, like you, is old; he is
wet and cold. And he shivers. And he will not take a mouthful of this
_rom_ because he fears scandal. Now if he should become ill and die I
should be a disgraced man. This _rom_ is now not _rom_; it is medicine.
And Mareko should take some even as you have taken it--to keep away
danger."

The four old fellows arose to the occasion. They talked earnestly
together for a minute, and then formed themselves into a committee,
requested me to head them as a deputation with the whisky, and then
waited upon their pastor, who was putting on a dry shirt in another hut.
I am glad to say that under our united protests he