Some women on the beach retired as we were about to land, but a number of boys and a few men received us, and after a preliminary halt to see that our guns were put to rights after the ducking, we all started together by a narrow path winding up a rugged wall of basaltic rock, fifty feet in height.  From the summit a steep declivity of a couple of hundred yards brought us to the village of Tassai, shaded by coconut-trees, and beautifully situated on a level space close to the beach on the windward side of the island, here not more than a quarter of a mile in width.  No canoes were seen here, and a heavy surf broke on the outer margin of a fringing reef.

FRIENDLY RECEPTION.

On the outskirts of the village we met the women and remainder of the people, and were received without any signs of apprehension.  One of our friends immediately got hold of a drum*—­a hollow cylinder of palm-wood two feet and a half in length, and four inches in diameter, one end covered over with the skin of a large lizard—­and commenced beating upon it very vigorously with the palm of the hand, singing and dancing at the same time, as if in honour of our arrival.

(Footnote.  Represented in the uppermost figure.)

VILLAGE OF TASSAI.

Each of us joined in the merriment as he came up, and in a short time the whole of Tassai was in an uproar.  Among the natives everyone seemed pleased, bustling about, watching our motions, examining our dress, and laughing and shouting immoderately as each new object was presented to his view.  Meanwhile I wandered about the village, accompanied by some women and children, picking up at the same time materials for my vocabulary.  One old dame brought me a coconut shell full of water which I returned after drinking some, but she pressed me in a very motherly way to put it into my bag, having doubtless imagined from our inquiries after water, that even a little constituted a valuable present.  We had seen neither stream nor well upon the island, and besides, it is probable that the great abundance of coconuts enables them to subsist with very little water.  We distributed among them some iron-hoop, knives, fish-hooks, and calico, to which I added a quantity of useful seeds,* which last were eagerly sought after when their use had been explained and understood.

(Footnote.  Part of a large supply procured at Hobart Town by Captain Stanley from the Government garden there.  They were placed under my charge, and were sown wherever circumstances appeared favourable for their growth, chiefly on uninhabited islands, there seldom having been an opportunity of distributing them among the natives of the shores we visited.)

PATTERNS OF TATOOING.