f the greatest beauty imaginable; for the little lagoon
of Nanomea is perfectly landlocked, except where there are breaks of
reef--dry at low water--which is as clear as crystal, and the low-lying
belt of land is a verdant girdle of coco and pandanus palms, growing
with bread-fruit and _fetau_ trees on the rich, warm soil composed of
vegetable matter and decayed coral detritis.

And then, too, you can look over the side of the canoe, or from an
exposed boulder of coral, and see the fish take your bait--unless a
breeze is rippling the surface of the water.

I usually chose the early morning, before the trade wind roused itself,
as then, if in a canoe, one need not anchor, but drift about from one
side of the lagoon to the other; then about ten o'clock, when the breeze
came, I would paddle over to the lee of the weather side of the island
(the land in places not being much wider than the Palisadoes of Port
Royal in Jamaica) and fish in unruffled water in some deep pool among
a number of sand banks, or rather round-topped hillocks, which even at
high water were some feet above the surface.

When bent on sand-mullet--_afulu_ the natives call them--I was in the
habit of going alone, although the moment I appeared in the village
carrying my rod, lines, and gun, I was always besought to take one or
two men with me. One of the most ardent fishermen on the island was one
Kino--a gentleman who weighed eighteen stone; and, as my canoe was only
intended for two light-weights like myself, I always tried to avoid
meeting him, for not only was he most persistent in his desire to see
how I managed to get so many mullet, but was most anxious to learn to
speak English.

On one occasion I fatuously took the monster out in my whaleboat to
fish for _takuo_ (a variety of _tuna_) one calm starlight night when the
ocean was like a sheet of glass. We pulled out over the reef, and when
a mile from the shore lowered our heavy lines and began fishing. For
nearly a quarter of an hour neither of us spoke, then he suddenly asked
me in his fat, wheezy tones, if I would mind telling him something.

"What is it?"

"Will you tell me, friend, what are the English words that should be
spoken by one of us of Nanomea to a ship captain, giving him greeting,
and asking him if he hath had a prosperous voyage with fair weather? My
heart is sick with envy that Pita and Loli speak English, and I cannot."

Forgetting my past experiences of my man, I was fool