our honour," or "Your reverence," in English. But it suddenly
occurred to him that he must translate this into the native tongue if
his secret was to be preserved. While he was turning over in his mind
the best words to use for this purpose he reflected that the
imperfection of his knowledge, even the mere tone of his voice, would
probably betray him; he therefore remained dumb, with his mouth open.

The missionary smiled slightly, and repeated his question.

Jarwin, in great perplexity, still remained dumb. Suddenly an idea
flashed across his mind. He pointed to his mouth, wagged his tongue,
and shook his head.

"Ah! you are dumb, my poor man," said the missionary, with a look of
pity.

"Or tabooed," suggested the lady; "his tongue may have been tabooed."

There was some reason and probability in this, for the extraordinary
custom of tabooing, by which various things are supposed to be rendered
sacred, and therefore not to be used or touched, is extended by the
South Sea Islanders to various parts of their bodies, as for instance,
the hands; in which case the person so tabooed must, for a time, be fed
by others, as he dare not use his hands.

Jarwin, being aware of the custom, was so tickled by the idea of his
tongue being tabooed, that he burst into an uncontrollable fit of
laughter, to the intense amazement of his questioners. While in the
midst of this laugh, he became horrified by the thought that _that_ of
itself would be sufficient to betray him, so he cleverly remedied the
evil, and gave vent to his feelings by tapering the laugh off into a
hideous yell, and rushed frantically from the spot.

"Strange," observed the missionary, gazing after the fugitive mariner,
"how like that was to an English laugh!"

"More like the cry of a South Sea maniac, I think," said Mrs Williams,
re-entering the house, followed by her husband.

The matter which the missionary said had been arranged so
satisfactorily, and was to be begun at once, was neither more nor less
than the building of a ship, in which to traverse the great
island-studded breast of the Pacific.

In case some one, accustomed to think of the ponderous vessels which are
built constantly in this land with such speed and facility, should be
inclined to regard the building of a ship a small matter, we shall point
out a few of the difficulties with which the missionary had to contend
in this projected work.

In the first place, he was on what is someti