I constantly hear lamentable stories of the hardships which some of these gentlemen are, even now, enduring. I hear of some, personally known to my hosts, who for months together have tasted nothing but sweet-potatoes and yams, with water for their only drink: occasionally they struggle to rear a few fowls, not for home use, but to be exchanged for the luxuries of tea and sugar—and even these fowls generally come to grief. Of course goats can only be kept by the privileged few who possess a whole island. On the mainland they would make havoc in the gardens of the natives, and however carefully tended, would give rise to many difficulties. Even a cow is not kept without much trouble on the score of trespass, and involves a lad to look after her; and I am told that there are families now living on Taviuni too poor to pay even one labour-boy to help on the plantation; indeed I heard of one case in which the father was too weak to work, and all the family were living on wild roots, dug up by the children! My host, being a man of unbounded energy, blessed with a wife of the like temperament, has managed, by a hard struggle, to keep his head above water, and now ranks as an exceptionally well-to-do planter. Having his own “home farm,” he is able occasionally to kill some sort of animal, and its flesh, fresh or salt, generally furnishes the table with meat; but if press of work prevents his having time to slay and prepare any beast, a large _papaw_ tart, with a dish of yams and a pot of tea, suffices for palates not vitiated by over-much luxury. At present there is a sense of abundance in the house, for Mr Leefe has himself killed, skinned, and cut up a goat, the various portions of which now adorn the beautiful old tree larder; moreover, a small vessel has called here and left a barrel of flour, of which Mrs Leefe herself has made excellent scones. We are indebted to her skill for almost all our meals, her only assistant in the kitchen being a good-natured laughing boy from the Tokalau Isles, whose talents are as yet undeveloped. He manages to do the coarser laundry-work, with the help of a very wide-awake girl from the Solomon Isles (who, by the way, talks the prettiest English). But here, also, anything needing care or refinement falls to the mistress, who also has to attend to the family wardrobe; and hardest of all, to both mother and daughter, she has sole charge of Ethel’s lessons, especially that most grievous task, her music lesson. For she has managed to retain one pleasant reminder of the old life in a most musical home, in her treasured piano, the solace of many an evening when the toil of day is over. I will not say that it is strictly in tune. No piano can be kept in order in this land of mildew and damp.