Most of the members of the visiting party were shocked and thought it was a pity the people had no more sense, and they foresaw the possible consequences, but the folk should not be so foolish!—they would, however, soon learn better. But the secret was out and the drink fiend had come in their midst. The poor fellows were carried home and their friends were cautioned as to the danger, but they might just as well have been cautioned not to let the lightning flash—one would not have been more difficult than the other; several cases of drunkenness occurred the following day,—and the visitors had not been there a week. Then in the evenings, after the serious day’s work was over, the people asked the strangers to join them in conversation, being hospitable and kind. Congreve, who was an inveterate smoker, had got Keeth, a chemist, to sterilise some particular leaves which Dawson had found, rolled and dried, and these were smoked by the visitors with delight; and they, being hospitable and friendly also, could not sit there talking and enjoying their smokes without offering similar cigars to their friends. Such exchange of courtesy could not be denied, and what was good for one could not harm two, so the natives followed the example of their visitors and smoked with them, and, anxious to please and entertain their guests, the spirit was brought out also. By this time, being accustomed to live so near the sun, they perceived that though the climate had not changed perceptibly, the evenings were a little chilly, and they needed warm and cosy rooms to maintain their bodily heat, thus fires had to be made, and as they were all seated around talking over their experiences and discussing matters of great interest to all, it was only natural that, seeing there was plenty of spirit and water, Holt should suggest a warm drink the better to keep out the cold—and Keeth, who was an adept at compounding appetising liquors, was called upon to show the people what he could do; so with the boiling water, some fruits, spirit and other ingredients, he made a splendid drink, which was handed round, steaming hot, and swallowed with avidity. The natives were assured it would do them good, and they knew it was so by the taste and by the delightful feeling of inward warmth and invigoration which followed. As the evening wore on all drank freely of the comforting beverage, and the natives blessed their visitors for showing them a new and enjoyable use for the material which they had made for years and years, all their lives in fact, yet hitherto had never attempted to drink. With the smoke and wine came games, and it amused these ingenuous folk to play at winning shells from one another; they were found in thousands on the sea-shore, and it was an exciting pastime for chilly evenings—a pastime in which they soon became adepts; then the lust for gambling became rooted in their simple minds, and their visitors gave them to understand that, whatever the consequences