gather over and then ascend from the water, and as we drew near the
islets the occasional thunder of the serf on Motuluga Reef we heard
awhile ago changed into a monotonous droning hum.

"_Aue_!" said Marèko the _tautai_, with a laugh, as he ceased paddling
and laid his paddle athwartships, "'tis like to be a hot day and calm.
So much the better for our fishing, for the water will be very clear.
Boy, give me a coconut to drink."

"Take some whisky with it, Marèko," I said, taking a flask out of my
basket.

"_Isa_! Shame upon you! How can you say such a thing to me, a minister!"
And then he added, with a reproachful look, "and my children here, too."
He would have winked, but he dared not do so, for one of his boys had
turned his face aft and was facing him. I, however, made him a hurried
gesture which he quite understood. Good old Marèko! He was an honest,
generous-hearted, broad-minded fellow, but terribly afraid of his
tyrannical deacons, who objected to him smoking even in the seclusion of
his own curatage, and otherwise bullied and worried him into behaving
exactly as they thought he should.

By the time we reached the islets the _atuli_ catching had begun, and
more than a hundred natives were encircling a considerable area of water
with finely-meshed nets and driving the fish shoreward upon a small
sandy beach, where they were scooped up in gleaming masses of shining
blue and silver by a number of women and children, who tumbled over and
pushed each other aside amidst much laughter and merriment.

On the larger of the two islets were a few thatched huts with open