dracoena plant, with head-dresses formed of pieces of iridescent pearl-shell, intermixed with silver coins and scarlet and amber beads, and the hair of both sexes is profusely adorned with the scarlet flowers of the hibiscus, while from their necks depend large strings of sea-sea, masa’oi, and other brightly-coloured and sweet-smelling berries.  Of late years the Tahitian fashion of wearing thick wreaths of orange or lemon blossoms has come into vogue.

Before concluding these remarks upon Samoa, I must mention that the climate is very healthy for the greater part of the year; but in the rainy season, December to March, the heat is intense, and sickness is often prevalent, especially in Apia.  Still fever, such as is met with in the New Hebrides and the Solomon Group, “the grave of the white man in the South Seas,” is unknown, and one may sleep in the open air with impunity.  Before setting out from Apia the services of a competent interpreter should be secured—­a man who thoroughly understands the Samoan customs as well as the language.  Plenty of reliable half-castes can always be found, any one of whom would be glad to engage for a very moderate payment.  Too often the pleasures of such a trip as I have described have been marred by the interpreter’s lack of tact and knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of the inhabitants of the various districts and villages.  The mere fact of a man being able to speak the language fairly well is not the all in all; for the Samoans are a highly sensitive people, and the omission by the interpreter of a chief’s titles, &c., when the guests are responding through him to an address of welcome, would be considered “shockingly bad form.”

But the reader must not imagine that the Samoan Group is the only one in the South Pacific where an enjoyable holiday may be spent.  The French possession of the Society Islands, of which the pretty town Papeite, in the noble island of Tahiti, is the capital, rivals, if not exceeds, Samoa in the magnificence of its scenery, and the natives are a highly intelligent race of Malayo-Polynesians who, despite their being citizens of the French Republic, never forget that they were redeemed from savagery by Englishmen, and a taata Peretane (Englishman) is an ever-welcome guest to them.  The facilities for visiting the different islands of the Society Group are very good, for there is quite a fleet of native and European-owned vessels constantly cruising throughout the archipelago.  To cross the island of Tahiti from its south-east to its north-west point is one of the most delightful trips imaginable.  Then again, the Hervey or Cook’s Group, which consist of the fertile islands of Mangaia, Rarotonga, Atui, Aitutaki, and Mauki, are well worth visiting.  The people speak a language similar to that of Tahiti, and they are a fine, hospitable race, albeit a little over-civilised.  Both of these groups can be reached from Auckland by sailing vessels, but not direct from Sydney.  As for the lonely islands of the North Pacific, they are too far afield for any one to visit but the trader or the traveller to whom time is nothing.