We succeeded in buying some interesting specimens of old manufactures, carved bowls, and stone axes, then turned aside to visit some most poetic burial-grounds. One of them haunts me still, it was so peaceful—a lonely grassy headland, with half-a-dozen graves, strewn with red or white coral, and shadowed by one palm. It was sheltered by great red cliffs, and beyond it lay the calm wide ocean bathed in glittering light. I would fain have lingered to sketch the scene, but we had to hurry on as fast as we could possibly walk. Such a scramble! As it was, we found on our return that the wind had changed, and we could not return to the mainland that night. At first we insisted on starting, and actually embarked, but we saw that the crew wore really afraid of danger, so of course we yielded and came ashore again, when the kind islanders brought us a capital supper. The people are all fishers, and a canoe-load of rainbow-coloured fish—some pure scarlet, some vivid green, some silvery—had just been brought in, as also many crabs. Most mothers would have been somewhat perturbed at such a _contretemps_; but Mrs Fraser took it quite calmly, and the people provided us with fine mats, and as a matter of course conducted us to the _vale ni lotu_ (the house of religion), where we slept undisturbed—my big sun-hat acting as my pillow. But after a while I awoke, and crept out into the clear moonlight, and sat alone on the silent shore, drinking in the delicious night breeze. Towards morning it blew pretty hard, but at sunrise Mr Fraser got a small canoe to enable me to reach a cliff which I wished to sketch; but the canoe was so tiny, and the sea so rough, that it was on the verge of swamping. We therefore landed, and walked as far as was possible. Then I got in alone, and the boatman, a ’cute, sturdy little fellow, half paddled, half swam, while I rapidly made my drawing. We walked back, found breakfast ready, and once more embarked. The fine canoe flew before the wind, cutting through the water beautifully, of course shipping seas and involving much bailing out—a process which is sometimes done with a wooden scoop, but more frequently by throwing out the water with the sole of the foot, using it like a hand. It needed half-a-dozen tacks to bring us to land; and each of these, in a canoe of this size, involves serious labour, as the base of the heavy triangular sail must be lifted by main force, and carried to the opposite end of the canoe by the combined strength of several men.