ntary dread,
lest the now awakened spirit of investigation and experiment, should
prompt our new friends to still more embarrassing extremes.

"This, however, proved to be a groundless apprehension, for their
curiosity was presently diverted into a new channel by Olla, who
suddenly demanded to know my name. I accordingly repeated it, and she
endeavoured several times to pronounce it after me, but without success.
The `th' seemed to constitute an insuperable difficulty, which,
however, she finally evaded, by softening `Arthur' into `Artua,' and
this, singularly enough, was what Rokoa had always been in the habit of
calling me. He and Barton were now called upon for their names, and in
return, we were favoured with the liquid and vowelly appellatives, by
which our ingenuous and communicative acquaintances were respectively
designated. Barton assumed the alias of Tom, which was straightway
metamorphosed into `Tomma.'

"While this exchange of names was going on, an old woman came from the
house, and delivered some message to Olla, which from the repetition of
the words `poe, poe,' I conjectured to be a summons to dinner. Mowno
leading the way, we now proceeded towards the dwelling. It was
surrounded by a strong, but neat hedge of the ti-plant some three and a
half feet high, with an ingeniously contrived wicker gate opposite the
door. A path strewn with marine shells, and fragments of white coral,
led from the gate to the door. The space within the inclosure was
chiefly devoted to the cultivation of yams and other vegetables, but
Olla showed me a little plot of ground, near the house, which she said
was her own garden. It was tastefully arranged, and carefully kept, and
a considerable variety of flowers, all of which she had herself
transplanted from the woods, were there in full bloom. Most conspicuous
among them was the native jasmine, and a species of wood-pink, both of
which were fragrant. The building itself was a model of a native
dwelling, and since we are to-morrow to try our own skill in
house-building, I will endeavour to describe it. It was of an oval
shape; the sides were inclosed with handsome mats, with spaces left for
the admission of light and air. The roof was composed of a firm and
durable thatch of pandanus leaves, strung upon small reeds, laid closely
together, and overlapping one another from the eaves to the ridge-pole.

"From the inside, the appearance was the neatest and prettiest
imag