oir) fibre, around their necks. We
called them to us, looked at the coins and found that they were rupees
and English five-shilling pieces.

I asked one of our Fijian seamen, who acted as interpreter, to ask the
children from where they got the coins.

"On the reef," they replied, "there are thousands of them cast up with
the wreckage of the ship that sank a long time ago. Most of them are
like these"--showing a five-shilling piece; "but there are much more
smaller ones like these,"--showing a rupee.

"Are there any _sama sama_ (yellow) ones?" I asked.

No, they said, they had not found any _sama sama_ ones. But they could
bring me basketfuls of those like which they showed me.

White's usually solemn eyes were now gleaming with excitement I drew him
and the Fiji man aside, and said to the latter quietly:--

"Sam, don't let these people think that these coins are of any more
value than the copper bolts. Tell them that for every one hundred pieces
they bring on board--no matter what size they may be--I will give them
a cupful of fine red beads--full measure. Or, if they do not care for
beads, I will give two sticks of tobacco, or a six-inch butcher knife of
good, hard steel."

(The three last words made White smile--and whisper to me, "'A good,
hard steal' some people would say--but not me".)

"And Sam," I went on, "you shall have an _alofa_ (present) of two
hundred dollars if you manage this carefully, and don't let these people
think that we particularly care about these pieces of soft white metal.
We came to Mayu for oil--understand?"

Sam did understand: and in a few minutes every boy and girl in Guasap
were out on the reef picking up the money. That day they brought us
over L200 in English and Indian silver, together with about L12 in Dutch
coins. (From this latter circumstance White and I concluded that the
wrecked vessel was the missing Dutch barque.)

On the following morning the reef at low tide presented an extraordinary
spectacle. Every woman, boy and girl from Guasap and the adjacent
villages were searching for the coins, and their clamour was terrific.
Whilst all this was going on, White, and the mate, and crew were
receiving the oil from the shore, putting it into our casks, driving
the hoops, and stowing them in the hold, working in such a state of
suppressed excitement that we were unable to exchange a word with each
other, for as each cask was filled I, on the after-deck, paid for it,
shunted