purchase was thought hazardous; and only the man who made it and

who had special opportunities could have dared to give so much.

The Paumotuan is sincerely attached to those of his own blood and

household. A touching affection sometimes unites wife and husband.

Their children, while they are alive, completely rule them; after

they are dead, their bones or their mummies are often jealously

preserved and carried from atoll to atoll in the wanderings of the

family. I was told there were many houses in Fakarava with the

mummy of a child locked in a sea-chest; after I heard it, I would

glance a little jealously at those by my own bed; in that cupboard,

also, it was possible there was a tiny skeleton.

The race seems in a fair way to survive. From fifteen islands,

whose rolls I had occasion to consult, I found a proportion of 59

births to 47 deaths for 1887. Dropping three out of the fifteen,

there remained for the other twelve the comfortable ratio of 50

births to 32 deaths. Long habits of hardship and activity

doubtless explain the contrast with Marquesan figures. But the

Paumotuan displays, besides, a certain concern for health and the

rudiments of a sanitary discipline. Public talk with these free-

spoken people plays the part of the Contagious Diseases Act; in-

comers to fresh islands anxiously inquire if all be well; and

syphilis, when contracted, is successfully treated with indigenous

herbs. Like their neighbours of Tahiti, from whom they have

perhaps imbibed the error, they regard leprosy with comparative

indifference, elephantiasis with disproportionate fear. But,

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