an possesses the braver he is."

The vicinity of the hut was carefully examined, and Uraso brought to
John a very curiously arranged shell, with a handle to it. It was, in
fact, a rattle. John took the article, and after examining it for some
time, remarked:

"These people will be difficult to deal with; very difficult."

"Why do you form that conclusion from the examination of the rattle?"

"This is a vele."

"A _vele_; and what in the world is that?"

"A vele is a sort of hoodoo; it is something that many natives believe
in with such tenacity that if any one having this rattle points to him
and declares him veleed, and announces that the veleed one will die the
next day, he will lay down and actually expire as predicted."

"Do you believe such tales?" asked Harry.

"Of course those stories are hard to understand, but the missionaries on
the Melanesian Islands vouch for many things similar to that. In 1871,
Bishop Patterson, one of the missionaries, was murdered by the natives
of those islands, and many of the facts in regard to their customs were
then established."

"But how do they work the vele?"

"The place where the vele is worked to the most unlimited extent is in
the Island of Guadalcaner, one of the Solomon Islands, although it has
its counterpart in many other places. The vele rattler is carefully kept
in a bamboo box, and when the owner wishes to destroy an enemy he takes
the vele, and searches for him.

"In doing so he must not be seen by any one. If he is seen the vele will
not be effective. When he finds his enemy the vele is pointed to the
man, and the rattles shaken, and while doing so the one exorcising the
spell must turn his face away and utter curses. As soon as his enemy
hears this, he turns to see who has veleed him, and he then glances
around to see if any one has seen the vele."

"Are you sure that the rattle is for that purpose?"

"There is no question of it, and it is an evidence that the natives are
intensely superstitious, and such people are very difficult to deal
with."

"I suppose we shall have witch doctors to deal with here?" asked George.

"That is a very natural supposition."

"Did you see some of these things when you came over here yesterday?"

"Yes."

It was evident to both boys that they were going direct to the
mountains, and the general character of the surroundings reminded them
so much of the mountains on Wonder Island, that they felt assured John
would b