human nature Hayes entrusted Captain Pinkham with the schooner, and he never saw her again.

After the loss of another brig at Strong's Island, Hayes changed his tactics, and actually succeeded in persuading the missionaries that he was converted from the error of his ways. How he got possession of the schooner which took him thence to Guam I do not know; but after his arrival there he was captured while bathing, and it was generally believed that his romantic career had come to an end, but he resumed the religious rôle, this time as a Catholic, and bamboozled the clergy of Manilla as effectually as he had the American missionaries.

The Spanish authorities had sufficient evidence to garotte twenty men, but Bully Hayes was equal to the occasion; and whether aided or not by a mistaken interest of the clergy in their new and most promising convert, he managed to escape, and turned up at San Francisco, where he succeeded in stealing a schooner called the Lotus (I know he paid twelve and a half dollars for water, but for nothing else), and in this vessel he was cruising when I was in the Pacific.

Captain Hayes was a handsome man of above the middle. height, with a long brown beard always in perfect order. He had a charming manner, dressed always in perfection of taste, and could cut a confiding friend's throat or scuttle his ship with a grace which, at any rate in the Pacific, was unequalled.

Hayes honoured Fiji with an occasional visit, but got somewhat shy of Levuka after the group became annexed to Great Britain. A friend of mine, who resides at Fiji's capital, told me the following characteristic anecdote of him: The Captain was in harbour with his schooner, and wanting a good supply of stores for a long cruise, gave a heavy order to my friend.

This was immediately executed, and goods and account were sent aboard. Next morning, when payment was looked for, his schooner was doing her utmost, under a depressing want of wind, to put as much distance as possible between her keel and Ovalau.

A round sum being at stake, my friend determined on a stern-chase; the native 'boys' pulled pluckily, and the schooner was overhauled. Captain Hayes, bland as ever, was most

courteous.

'In what way could he serve the Levuka party? Any parcels or letters to take? Delighted, to be sure; but it was fortunate for them that the wind was so light, as by this time he ought to have been well out of the group.'

Somewhat dumbfounded at this reception, and hardly caring to drink the proffered 'nip,' my friend delicately hinted at his firm's transaction with the gallant skipper. The captain grew indignant.

'Whose account?' He was told.

'Paid yesterday,' was the response.

The merchant implied in return that he regretted such was not the case.

'Send for So-and-so.' He appeared.

'What's this I hear? Messrs. So-and-So's account not paid. You had my money and instructions; and you knew we left at daybreak.' Then the captain gave his purser a lecture in the choicest invective of the Southern Seas. Apologising to the merchant and his clerk for thus losing his temper, he explained that his drunken scoundrel of a subordinate had had the exact money wrapped up in the bill, and he would have to find it. In a few minutes the purser returned with the amount, as Hayes had stated, and the Levukans left the schooner, reflecting perhaps on the sin of harbouring un

founded suspicion against the innocent victim of a servant's negligence.

This worthy died what may be called a natural death, as he was, very deservedly perhaps, knocked on the head by an officer he had brutally ill-treated. The gossip of the Pacific credits him with many murders, especially of women.

CHAPTER XXIX.

PEARL FISHING AND 'BEACHCOMBERS.'

THERE can be no doubt that if the innumerable low coral islands scattered all over the face of the South Sea, and only occasionally visited by chance traders, were in the Eastern Hemisphere instead of the Pacific, they would long ago have had their great intrinsic value turned to profitable account by the commercial races of the world. One has only to reflect on the endless disputes between the great Powers interested in the coral banks of Messina, the amber dredging-grounds of the Baltic Coast, or the cod-fisheries of Newfoundland, and then to consider the unheeded wealth of Polynesia, to gauge the indifference with which the world regards it even now.

No exploring parties are required, the exploration has been accomplished over and over again. The question is, who in the future shall benefit by it? In this regard I do not intend to refer to the countless products I have mentioned in speaking of Fiji, Samoa, or Tonga. I deal only with pearl-fishing, and bêche-de-mer, as I have had exceptional opportunities of ascertaining the condition and mode of conducting these important industries.

All Australian colonists have heard of the extraordinary profits made some years ago by men like Captain Cadell and other pearl-fishers on the coast of North Australia. The same shell exists in vast quantities in various localities of the South Pacific under more favourable conditions, inasmuch as the divers are obtainable on the spot or in the neighbourhood, with the additional advantage that the food they require is produced spontaneously on the scene of their labours. For many years past, in the Pacific, men accustomed to the shell trade have been in the habit of collecting shell and disposing of it to such vessels as might chance to visit them, at prices ranging from £12 to £20 per ton, and considered themselves well paid, whereas the prices obtained in the London market have varied from £80 to £150, or even more.

It has been said that the South Sea shell is inferior to that obtained on the coasts of North Australia, Manilla, or Ceylon. This, however, is not really the case; but it is quite true that years ago Tahitian, the name by which South Sea shell is usually known, became greatly depreciated in the European market, in consequence of the merchants of that place having foolishly persisted in cleaning the shell before shipment. To accomplish this object the more readily, the traders used to throw them out on the sandy beach of the island where they were obtained, and let them lie for a day or two in the hot sun; the effect of which was that all the rough edges, knots, and coral lumps which were attached to them cracked off and left them smooth, but at the same time denuded of the splendid natural lustre they would have retained had they been placed under cover immediately the living fish were removed from them. The Manilla fishers were always aware of this fact, and profited by their knowledge; in consequence of which their shell has for years past commanded a very high

BEACHCOMBERS

price, and is, as I write, quoted at £100 a ton. The bulk of the Manilla shell is moreover obtained from the Pacific, that is to say, from Hogoleu, Lugunor, and other great islands of the Caroline Group, and is the same oyster which is found over the whole Pacific on all islands possessing the conditions necessary for its existence.

What pearl deposits are worth in other parts of the world may be gathered from the fact that according to returns published by the Indian Government, the value of a pearl bank in the Straits of Manaar (to the north of Ceylon), of 2 miles in circumference, with a depth of 7 fathoms or thereabouts, is estimated at from £35,000 to £40,000, subject to the royalty demanded by the authorities. The shell lies thick there, more so than is usual in the Pacific; but when we consider that in the latter case many lagoons are to be found, from 12 to 20 miles in diameter, wherein, so far as the shoal water extends, it is not possible to look over the side of the boat without seeing shell on the bottom ready for collection, and with neither dues, royalties, nor purchase-money to pay, it is very obvious that the profits to be made in the Pacific would equal or exceed those made in the Indian Sea.

In the atolls of the Low Archipelago there are numerous pearl-fisheries, the lagoons of which are in themselves beautiful beyond description.

They are generally shallow, though in some places they exhibit vast hollows, with an apparent depth of 50 or more fathoms. Their appearance is most extraordinary and beautiful, the water, from the absence of the débris of streams or any kind of alluvium (from the fact of the land being entirely composed of coral rock and gravel), exhibits so surpassing a transparency that an object the size of a man's hand may in calm weather be distinctly seen at a depth of 10 fathoms.