All shout with delight, and every new arrival
must have a look. The sun was frightfully hot. Some men were fishing on
the breakers; they had a long post, with a cross-bar, on which they
stand, fixed in the sand, head covered with native cloth, and bow and
arrow ready.
A number of people came in from Vailala. They wish I would go down with
them, but it is too late to go so far in an open boat. I have had
another meeting with the leading men, and I think all is now peace. My
friend Rahe seems a great personage, with relatives innumerable. He
wants to know if I would like to be alone in the _dubu_; only say it, and
all the men will leave. I prefer them remaining, and I will make myself
comfortable on the front platform.
In the evening, men and women--I suppose _they_ would say "elegantly
dressed"--bodies besmeared with red pigment, croton and _dracaena_
leaves, and feathers of various birds fixed on head, arms, and legs,
paraded the villages. At present all move about armed, and in this
establishment bows, bent and unbent, and bundles of arrows are on all
sides.
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