diet is seen in the frequency of eruptions and scurfy skin diseases, and
the numerous sores that disfigure the faces of the children.

The villages are situated on high and rugged coral peaks, only
accessible by steep narrow paths, with ladders and bridges over yawning
chasms. They are filthy with rotten husks and oil refuse, and the huts
are dark, greasy, and dirty in the extreme. The people are wretched
ugly dirty savages, clothed in unchanged rags, and living in the most
miserable manner, and as every drop of fresh water has to be brought
up from the beach, washing is never thought of; yet they are actually
wealthy, and have the means of purchasing all the necessaries and
luxuries of life. Fowls are abundant, and eggs were given me whenever
I visited the villages, but these are never eaten, being looked upon
as pets or as merchandise. Almost all of the women wear massive gold
earrings, and in every village there are dozens of small bronze cannon
lying about on the ground, although they have cost on the average
perhaps L10 a piece. The chief men of each village came to visit me,
clothed in robes of silk and flowered satin, though their houses and
their daily fare are no better than those of the ether inhabitants. What
a contrast between these people and such savages as the best tribes of
bill. Dyaks in Borneo, or the Indians of the Uaupes in South America,
living on the banks of clear streams, clean in their persons and their
houses, with abundance of wholesome food, and exhibiting its effect in
healthy shins and beauty of form and feature! There is in fact almost
as much difference: between the various races of savage as of civilized
peoples, and we may safely affirm that the better specimens of the
former are much superior to the lower examples of the latter class.

One of the few luxuries of Matabello is the palm wine; which is the
fermented sap from the flower stains of the cocoa-net. It is really a
very mice drink, more like cyder than beer, though quite as intoxicating
as the latter. Young cocoa-nuts are also very abundant, so that anywhere
in the island it is only necessary to go a few yards to find a delicious
beverage by climbing up a tree for it. It is the water of the young
fruit that is drunk, before the pulp has hardened; it is then more
abundant, clear, and refreshing, and the thin coating of gelatinous pulp
is thought a treat luxury. The water of full-brown cocoa-nuts is always
thrown away as undrinkab