them at the same age smoking cigars, which is very common even before they
are weaned. Cocoa-nuts, sweet potatoes, an occasional sago cake, and the refuse
nut after the oil has been extracted by boiling, form the chief sustenance of these
people; and the effect of this poor and unwholesome diet is seen in the frequency
of eruptions and scurfy skin diseases, and the numerous sores that disfigure the
faces of the children.
The villages are situated on high and rugged coral peaks, only accessible by
steep narrow paths, with ladders and bridges over yawning chasms. They are
filthy with rotten husks and oil refuse, and the huts are dark, greasy, and dirty in
the extreme. The people are wretched ugly dirty savages, clothed in unchanged
rags, and living in the most miserable manner, and as every drop of fresh water
has to be brought up from the beach, washing is never thought of; yet they are
actually wealthy, and have the means of purchasing all the necessaries and
luxuries of life. Fowls are abundant, and eggs were given me whenever I visited
the villages, but these are never eaten, being looked upon as pets or as
merchandise. Almost all of the women wear massive gold earrings, and in every
village there are dozens of small bronze cannon lying about on the ground,
although they have cost on the average perhaps £10 a piece. The chief men of
each village came to visit me, clothed in robes of silk and flowered satin, though
their houses and their daily fare are no better than those of the ether inhabitants.
What a contrast between these people and such savages as the best tribes of bill.
Dyaks in Borneo, or the Indians of the Uaupes in South America, living on the
banks of clear streams, clean in their persons and their houses, with abundance
of wholesome food, and exhibiting its effect in healthy shins and beauty of form
and feature! There is in fact almost as much difference: between the various
races of savage as of civilized peoples, and we may safely affirm that the better
specimens of the former are much superior to the lower examples of the latter
class.
One of the few luxuries of Matabello is the palm wine; which is the fermented
sap from the flower stains of the cocoa-net. It is really a very mice drink, more
like cyder than beer, though quite as intoxicating as the latter. Young cocoa-nuts
are also very abundant, so that anywhere in the island it is only necessary to go a
few yards to find a delicious beverage by climbing up a tree for it. It is the water
of the young fruit that is drunk, before the pulp has hardened; it is then more
abundant, clear, and refreshing, and the thin coating of gelatinous pulp is thought
a treat luxury. The water of full-brown cocoa-nuts is always thrown away as
undrinkable, although it is delicious in comparison with that of the old dry nuts
which alone we obtain in this country. The cocoa-nut pulp I did not like at first;