[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

66 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

the bullets, the more they impressed them, and our
revolvers were glanced at with contempt and a shrug
of the shoulders, expressing infinite disdain, until each
of us shot a few rounds. Then they winced, started
to run away, came back and laughed boisterously
over their own fright; but after that they had more
respect for our “little guns.”

Soon they became more daring, came closer and
began to feel us, first touching us lightly with the
finger-tips, then with their hands. They wanted to
look at and handle everything, cartridge-belts, pipes,
hats and clothes. When all these had been ex—
amined, they investigated our persons, and to me, at
least, not being used to this, it was most disagreeable.
I did not mind when they tucked up our sleeves and
trousers and compared the whiteness and softness of
our skin with their own dark hide, nor when they
softly and caressingly stroked the soft skin on the
inner side of our arms and legs, vigorously smacking
their lips the while; but when they began to feel the
tenderness and probably the delicacy of our muscles,
and tried to estimate our fitness for a royal repast,
muttering deep grunts, constantly smacking their lips,
and evidently highly satisfied with the result of their
investigation, I did not enjoy the situation any more;
still less when I saw an ugly-looking fellow trembling
violently from greedy desire, rolling his eyes in wild
exultation and performing an anticipatory cannibal
dinner-dance. We gradually began to SHAKE off this
wearisomely intimate crowd ; the fact that there were
two of us, and that I was not alone in this situation