Seas

by H. Wilfrid Walker

In a book of this kind it is often the custom to begin by making apologies. In my case I feel it to be a sheer necessity. In the first place what is here printed is for the greater part copied word for word from private letters that I wrote in very simple language in Dayak or Negrito huts, or in the lonely depths of tropical forests, in the far-off islands of the Southern Seas. I purposely made my letters home as concise as possible, so that they could be easily read, and in consequence have left out much that might have been interesting.

Journey to Taviuni - Samoan Songs - Whistling for the Wind - Landing on Koro - Nabuna - Samoans and Fijians Compared - Fijian Dances and Angona Drinking - A Hurricane in the Southern Seas - Arrival at Taviuni - First Impressions of Ratu Lala's Establishment - Character of Ratu Lala - Prohibition of Cricket - Ratu Lala Offended - The Prince's Musical Box.

Fijian Huts - Abundance of Game and Fish - Methods of Capture - A Fijian Practical Joke - Fijian Feasts - Fun after Dinner - A Court Jester in Fiji - Drinking, Dress, and Methods of Mourning - A Bride's Ringlets - Expedition to Vuna - Tersi and Moe Journey to School - Their Love of Sweets - Rough Reception of Visitors to Vuna - Wonderful Fish Caught - Exhibition of Surf-board Swimming by Women - Impressive Midnight Row back to Taviuni - A Fijian Farewell.

Journey into the Interior of Great Fiji - A Guide Secured - The Start - Arrival at Navua - Extraction of Sago - Grandeur of Scenery - A Man covered with Monkey-like Hair - A Strangely Coloured Parrot - Wild Lemon and Shaddock Trees - A Tropical "Yosemite Valley" - Handclapping as a Native Form of Salute - Beauty of Namosi - The Visitor inspected by ex-Cannibals - Reversion to Cannibalism only prevented by fear of the Government - A Man who would like to Eat my Parrot "and the White Man too" - The Scene of Former Cannibal Feasts - Revolting Accounts of Cannibalism as Formerly Practised - Spo

War Ceremonies and Dances at Natondre Described - The Great Chief of Nambukaluku - The Dances continued - A Fijian Feast - A Native Orator - The Ceremonies concluded - The Journey continued - A Wonderful Fungus - The bark of the rare Golden Dove leads to its CaptureReturn to more Civilised Parts - The Author as Guest of a high Fijian Prince and Princess - A SOUVENIR of Seddon - Arrival at Suva.

In the town hall of the seaport of St Malo there hangs a portrait of Jacques Cartier, the great sea-captain of that place, whose name is associated for all time with the proud title of 'Discoverer of Canada.' The picture is that of a bearded man in the prime of life, standing on the deck of a ship, his bent elbow resting upon the gunwale, his chin supported by his hand, while his eyes gaze outward upon the western ocean as if seeking to penetrate its mysteries.

It was on April 20, 1534, that Jacques Cartier sailed out of the port of St Malo on his first voyage in the service of Francis I. Before leaving their anchorage the commander, the sailing-masters, and the men took an oath, administered by Charles de Mouy, vice-admiral of France, that they would behave themselves truly and faithfully in the service of the Most Christian King. The company were borne in two ships, each of about sixty tons burden, and numbered in all sixty-one souls.

On June 25 Cartier turned his course away from Newfoundland and sailed westward into what appeared to be open sea. But it was not long before he came in sight of land again. About sixty miles from the Newfoundland shore and thirty miles east from the Magdalen Islands, two abrupt rocks rise side by side from the sea; through one of them the beating surf has bored a passage, so that to Cartier's eye, as his ships hove in sight of them, the rocks appeared as three.

The second voyage of Jacques Cartier, undertaken in the years 1535 and 1536, is the exploit on which his title to fame chiefly rests. In this voyage he discovered the river St Lawrence, visited the site of the present city of Quebec, and, ascending the river as far as Hochelaga, was enabled to view from the summit of Mount Royal the imposing panorama of plain and river and mountain which marks the junction of the St Lawrence and the Ottawa.