over the island, and spying out the wickedness thereof.

Moreover, they are the collectors of fines--levied generally in grass
mats--for obstinate non-attendance upon divine worship, and other
offences amenable to the ecclesiastical judicature of the
missionaries.

Old Bob called these fellows "kannakippers" a corruption, I fancy, of
our word constable.

He bore them a bitter grudge; and one day, drawing near home, and
learning that two of them were just then making a domiciliary visit
at his house, he ran behind a bush; and as they came forth, two green
bread-fruit from a hand unseen took them each between the shoulders.
The sailors in the Calabooza were witnesses to this, as well as
several natives; who, when the intruders were out of sight, applauded
Captain Bob's spirit in no measured terms; the ladies present
vehemently joining in. Indeed, the kannakippers have no greater
enemies than the latter. And no wonder: the impertinent varlets,
popping into their houses at all hours, are forever prying into their
peccadilloes.

Kooloo, who at times was patriotic and pensive, and mourned the evils
under which his country was groaning, frequently inveighed against
the statute which thus authorized an utter stranger to interfere with
domestic arrangements. He himself--quite a ladies' man--had often
been annoyed thereby. He considered the kannakippers a bore.

Beside their confounded inquisitiveness, they add insult to injury, by
making a point of dining out every day at some hut within the limits