CHAPTER VII.
AN EXPEDITION INLAND.
Walk from Hula to Kalo—Cocoanut Groves—Native Diseases—Mortality —Kamali—A Popular Photographer—Arrival at Kalo—History of the Reprisals for Murder—Price of Wife—Matrimonial Customs—The Author leaves Kalo—Crossing a River—Arrival at Hood Lagoon—Rejoin the Ship.
T daybreak on Monday, September 28th, all was astir on the "Governor Blackall." Sir Peter Scratchley, Mr. Fort, Mr. Chalmers, myself, the Doctor, and one or two others started in the dingy, towed by the launch, for shore, which, owing to the low tide, we reached by a circuitous route, and had to be carried through the shallows pick-a-back. Once landed, we commenced our work, which was nothing more or less than a pedestrian excursion under the guidance of Mr. Chalmers, to the village of Kalo, some miles inland, making Hula, where we landed, our base. A crowd of natives surrounded us on landing, anxious to earn a little tobacco by assisting to transport our baggage. A dozen were told off to carry the Governor's effects, and four more took my apparatus and wardrobe on their brawny shoulders. After getting clear of the village I counted over fifty brothers, sisters, cousins, and aunts of the bearers following our party on the chance of a stray bit of tobacco. The country through which we passed was richly cultivated, containing miles of native plantations devoted to bananas, sweet potatoes and yams. Some of the gardens were in splendid order, and cultivated with Chinese minuteness, the young shoots of the yams being sheltered from the sun by husks and
