th
and perfection. The whole body is covered with a thick layer of greasy
soot. Such is the appearance of the modern man-eater.

Just at first we did not feel any too comfortable or anxious to go
ashore, and we watched our neighbours very carefully. They, however,
were hardly less frightened and suspicious; but after a while,
through the excitement of trading, they became more confident, forgot
their suspicions and bargained noisily, as happy as a crowd of boys;
still, any violent movement on our part startled them. For instance,
several of them started to run for the woods when I hastily grabbed
a pipe that a roll of the boat had set slipping off the seat.

After having filled the boats to the brim with yams, and the first
eagerness of bartering over, we ventured ashore. A suspicious crowd
stood around us and watched every movement. We first showed them our
weapons, and a violent smacking of the lips and long-drawn whistles,
or a grunting "Whau!" bespoke a gratifying degree of admiration
and wonder. The longer the cartridges and the larger the bullets,
the more they impressed them, and our revolvers were glanced at with
contempt and a shrug of the shoulders, expressing infinite disdain,
until each of us shot a few rounds. Then they winced, started to
run away, came back and laughed boisterously over their own fright;
but after that they had more respect for our "little guns."

Soon they became more daring, came closer and began to feel us, first
touching us lightly with the finger-tips, then with their hands. They
wanted to look at and handle everything, cartridge-belts, pipes,
hats and clothes. When all these had been examined, they investigated
our persons, and to me, at least, not being used to this, it was
most disagreeable. I did not mind when they tucked up our sleeves and
trousers and compared the whiteness and softness of our skin with their
own dark hide, nor when they softly and caressingly stroked the soft
skin on the inner side of our arms and legs, vigorously smacking their
lips the while; but when they began to feel the tenderness and probably
the delicacy of our muscles, and tried to estimate our fitness for a
royal repast, muttering deep grunts, constantly smacking their lips,
and evidently highly satisfied with the result of their investigation,
I did not enjoy the situation any more; still less when I saw an
ugly-looking fellow trembling violently from greedy desire, rolling
his eyes in wild exulta