of
what they called 'telling tales'--namely, saying that the laws of
Murray Island were good, but that at Darnley Island they were '_very_
bad.' For this the old chief, King Jack, promptly fined her 200
cocoa-nuts, which, by the way, we bought for 10_s._, knowing what a
welcome addition they will prove to our own and the crew's diet, for
fresh vegetables are difficult to procure. Mr. Milman has taken the
precaution of planting these islands with cocoa-nuts, and he allows
the people to keep a certain number, so that there is a definite and
just way of punishing them if they offend against the law, by fining
them so many cocoa-nuts. The money paid for the cocoa-nuts goes into
the national exchequer; and although the amount realised is not large,
as may be imagined, it contributes to the cost of repairs or
improvements.

During the afternoon 'Sir Roger' performed some of his tricks for the
amusement of the assembled natives. Their delight was intense and
unbounded. Though he may have had a more crowded, he never had a more
enthusiastic, audience. The performance was repeated several times,
but the natives never seemed to weary of it. I thoroughly enjoyed the
trip to the island to-day, and found it delicious to lie lazily under
the shade of the cocoa-nut trees and listen to just as much or as
little as I liked of what was going on round me. The rustle of the
wind through the long leaves of the cocoa-nut trees is far more calm
and peaceful than even the murmur of the 'immemorial elms;' and the
glimpses of the sea, dotted by small islands and coral reefs, on which
the waves broke in beautiful creamy foam, were most lovely. About four
o'clock we went down again to the village, passing through tracts of
cultivated ground bearing crops of sweet potatoes. On our way we
paused to admire the church bell--an ancient dinner-bell, which hung
by a piece of string from the longest and scraggiest arm of a very old
and leafless tree. All the rest of the party were assembled on the
beach, and a brisk trade was being done in corals, shells, and
cocoa-nuts, paid for in tobacco, which the islanders much prefer to
money. The teacher's wife was made happy by the gift of a reel of
white cotton and a packet of needles, which will enable her to carry
out her dressmaking operations and repairs with much greater ease. Her
eyes quite glistened as she took them. Mr. Savage told me that the two
Regina birds-of-paradise tails which I bought to-day wer