mplaint heard elsewhere that no chance of improvement is
given to them. The steamer, frequently bringing hither the inhabitants
of more favoured islands in the interests of trade, already begins to
stir feelings of unrest, and vague longings for the better things as
yet withheld. A chieftain's daughter joins the throng round the old
_messighit_. A red-cotton drapery, thrown over bronze limbs, is her
only garment, but a diamond glistening on her dark hand looks
incongruous with the scanty clothing. The gem seems a talisman or
heirloom, but a request to examine it terrifies the owner, and she
rushes away into the woods to safeguard the precious possession from
perils suggested by the presence of the white pilgrim from across the
seas. The delicious breeze which always spring up after ten o'clock in
these latitudes renders walking a delight, the two following hours
being invariably cooler than the trying time between eight and ten,
when the fierce sun, on a level with the face, creates an atmosphere of
blistering glare. The brown procession forms an orderly escort to the
lading shed beneath a clump of tall cocoa-palms, and the kindly
merchant who negotiates the commerce of the Soela-Bessir isles for the
Dutch Government, sends a native boy up the smooth stem of a colossal
tree in search of a fresh cocoanut, which fills two tumblers with
refreshing sap. The thatched _campong_ stands against a background of
green hills and dense woods, rich in tropical verdure, but lacking the
loveliness of the Moluccas. The return to the ship involves a _bloto_
across the bay, with many misgivings as to the seaworthy capacities of
the clumsy craft, but four bamboo safety-poles, fastened by forked
sticks to the sides of the hollowed log, suffice to steady it enough to
avoid capsizal. In the Soela-Bessir Isles, as in many other far-off and
forgotten regions, the genius of commerce begins to awaken the desire
of civilisation in untutored hearts, for Trade sharing in the romance
no longer regarded as the exclusive attribute of Art or Science, now
helps to fuse opposing elements into unity and order. The simple
inhabitants of distant Senana seem only waiting for an outstretched
hand to lift them to a higher level of creed and culture, for the
modern pioneers of missionary enterprise raise the superstructure of
Christianity with unexampled success on the substratum of truth
contained even in imperfect and erroneous creeds. That solid foundation
st