On showing ourselves near the door of a house, we were always invited to enter and take a seat among the family on the floor, and the women immediately put us through a catechism, commencing, according to established form, with the question, "Name o' you?" This question must be answered, and the name repeated by the whole family, until they have the pronunciation perfect. But instead of following this up by asking "Who give you that name?" the next query is, "Name o' ship?" and then, "Name o' captain?" We thought it very remarkable that we found sufficient knowledge of English in every family to conduct these exercises, in view of the fact that so few ships had visited the place, and no white man was then living among them. After these points are all settled, a pipe is produced, with the request, usually made by one of the younger women in her most seductive tones, "You fill pipe belong to me?" Of course you feel bound to honor this draft upon your pocket store of tobacco, and, if you intend to make many calls while on shore, your pockets must be well filled. It is observable that the pipe produced on these occasions is invariably one with a large bowl, while those used for smoking are always small. We strolled into a large building near the beach abreast of our anchorage, which appeared to be a feast-home, a royal banqueting hall. It may, perhaps have been used also as a hall of council, if so absolute a monarch as King George can be supposed to consult with any one on affairs of state. I should suppose, from what I saw of this despot, that he might have had that peculiarity for which the first Napoleon is said to have been famous, of making up his mind first, and asking the advice of his generals afterwards. In this building, in a line extending nearly the whole length of it, flat stones, slightly hollowed so as to form basins, were set into the ground, and at each of these was seated a man, pounding kava-root with a smooth stone of convenient weight to be swung in his hand. The right arms of all these men, perhaps twenty in number, rose and fell in concert, with a slow and measured stroke, uniting the sounds produced by the twenty stone hammers upon the basins into one loud clang. Outside, fires had been built, and mysterious processes of cookery were being carried on. I inquired the meaning of all this preparation, and learned that this was a funeral feast. A woman of some rank, the wife of a chief, had died, and all the high dignitaries were then attending the burial, after which they would return to the feast-house, and "partake of a grand collation," as the celebration programmes have it. I was too late to see anything of the funeral ceremonies, for they were even now on their return. The kava-root, after being pounded to a fibrous mass, is mixed with clear water in the stone basins, and the infusion is strained, or rather wrung, through a sort of coarse cloth of grassy appearance, into calabashes, and is ready for the banquet.