that evening, and, as the mate and
myself were smoking on deck about nine o'clock, we heard four shots in
rapid succession fired from the wreck. Knowing that something was wrong,
I called a couple of hands, and in a few minutes was pulled on board,
where I found the old carpenter lying writhing in agony, his features
presenting a truly shocking and terrifying appearance. His revolver lay
on the deck near him--he had fired it to bring assistance. I need not
here describe the peculiarly drastic remedies adopted by the natives to
save the man's life. They at first thought the case was a hopeless one,
but by daylight the patient was out of danger. He was never able to turn
to again as long as we were on the island, and suffered from the effects
of the fish for quite two or three years. He had, he afterwards told me,
made up his mind to eat some of the fish that evening to show me that he
was right and I was wrong.

A few weeks after this incident myself and a native lad named Viri,
who was one of our crew and always my companion in fishing or shooting
excursions, went across the lagoon to some low sandy islets, where we
were pretty sure of getting a turtle or two. Viri's father and mother
were Samoans, but he had been born on Nassau Island, a lonely spot in
the South Pacific, where he had lived till he was thirteen years of
age. He was now fifteen, and a smarter, more cheerful, more intelligent
native boy I had never met.

His knowledge of bird and fish life was a never-ending source of
pleasure and instruction to me, and the late Earl of Pembroke and Sir
William Flower would have delighted in him.

It was dead low tide when we reached the islets, so taking our spears
with us we set out along the reef to look for turtle in the many
deep and winding pools which broke up the surface of the reef. After
searching for some time together without success, Viri left me and
went off towards the sea, I keeping to the inner side of the lagoon.
Presently in a shallow pool about ten feet in circumference I espied
a small but exceedingly beautiful fish. It was about four inches in
length, and two and a half inches in depth, and as it kept perfectly
still I had time to admire its brilliant hues--blue and yellow-banded
sides with fins and tail tipped with vivid crimson spots. Around the
eyes were a number of dark yellowish or orange-coloured rings, and the
eyes themselves were large, bright, and staring. It displayed no alarm
at my pre