The day was invariably begun and ended with prayer and praise to the divine Father for His mercies and His preserving care, each and every family engaging in a short service of worship by parents and children, nor was a day considered as rightly begun if their first duty to their Creator was omitted. This right custom has ever been, and still is, religiously observed by their descendants. Captain Beechy and his officers had the opportunity during their stay of attending divine service on the Sunday. That day was very strictly kept. There was complete cessation from work; no fires were made, all the cooking being done on the Saturday, that nothing of a worldly nature might interfere with the sacred duties of the day of rest. In the public worship on Sundays, Buffett assisted Adams in reading the service, the especial part allotted him being the sermon, “some sentences of which were read over two or three times,” to catch the attention of his hearers, and also to help to impress the words on their memory. Buffett also acted as schoolmaster, and “found the children both willing and attentive scholars.” When the _Blossom_ left the island, the tearful, affectionate farewells told how the hearts of all the islanders had been won to their visitors, whose pleasant stay and cheerful companionship had been such a bright spot in their quiet lives, and was to form ever after one of their most delightful and pleasing recollections. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER VI. GEORGE HUN NOBBS. Death of John Adams THE EVEN, uneventful round of life in the little community passed steadily along, with “scarcely a ripple to stir its monotonous surface.” Cultivating the ground and keeping it in order, building houses for the more newly married couples, canoe building and fishing, and occasionally going out with their guns to shoot goats, wild fowl, and birds, supplied constant occupation for the men. A favorite mode of taking fish was with the spear, usually made by fastening five pieces of iron, bent to the required shape, and having barbed points, onto a pole about twenty feet long, and in the use of which the men were very expert. The women were always to be seen assisting their husbands, fathers, and brothers in their outdoor occupations, and sometimes accompanied them when they went out in their canoes to fish. Cooking and other housework, and taking care of the children, gave them daily employment. But their principal work, during the colder months of the year, was the making of native cloth. This native cloth, or _tappa_, is made from the bark of the _aute_ plant (pronounced outy), _i. e._, the paper mulberry, and has very much the nature and consistency of paper. The work is exceedingly laborious and wearisome, and when the yield of the plants is large, it sometimes occupies months in doing. Yet it was necessary to be done, as that material supplied nearly all the bedding used then.