On Sunday, the 4th, we were beating down through innumerable reefs, and
at eight p.m. we anchored about three miles from Hula. The following
morning we went up to the village, the _Mayri_ anchoring close by the
houses. The country about here looks fine and green, a very striking
contrast to that around Port Moresby. The further east we get from Port
Moresby, the finer the country looks. The people are also superior--finer-
made men and women, and really pretty boys and girls--more, altogether,
like our eastern South Sea Islanders. The married women spoil their
looks by keeping their heads shaved. They seem fond of their children:
men and women nurse them. They were busy preparing their large canoes to
visit Port Moresby, on the return of the Port Moresby canoes from the
west with sago.

About three in the afternoon, an old woman made her appearance at the
door of the mission house, bawling out, "Well, what liars these Hula
people are; some of them were inland this morning, and the chief asked
them if _Misi Lao_ had come, and they said no." The chief, who saw the
vessel from the hill top where his village is, thought it strange the
vessel should be there without _Misi Lao_, so sent this woman to learn
the truth. She received a present for herself and the chief, and went
away quite happy.

Next morning, November 6th, we left Hula with a fair wind, and were
anchored close to Kerepunu by nine o'clock. The _Bertha_ was anchored
fully two miles off. Kerepunu is a magnificent place, and its people are
very fine-looking. It is one large town of seven districts, with fine
houses, all arranged in streets, crotons and other plants growing about,
and cockatoos perching in front of nearly every house. One part of the
population plant, another fish, and the planters buy the fish with their
produce. Men, women, and children are all workers; they go to their