inches in diameter. Roughly speaking, the circumference of said holes
was twelve and one-half inches. Mauki was catholic in his tastes. In
the various smaller holes he carried such things as empty rifle
cartridges, horseshoe nails, copper screws, pieces of string, braids
of sennit, strips of green leaf, and, in the cool of the day, scarlet
hibiscus flowers. From which it will be seen that pockets were not
necessary to his well-being. Besides, pockets were impossible, for his
only wearing apparel consisted of a piece of calico several inches
wide. A pocket knife he wore in his hair, the blade snapped down on a
kinky lock. His most prized possession was the handle of a china cup,
which he suspended from a ring of turtle-shell, which, in turn, was
passed through the partition-cartilage of his nose.

But in spite of embellishments, Mauki had a nice face. It was really a
pretty face, viewed by any standard, and for a Melanesian it was a
remarkably good-looking face. Its one fault was its lack of strength.
It was softly effeminate, almost girlish. The features were small,
regular, and delicate. The chin was weak, and the mouth was weak.
There was no strength nor character in the jaws, forehead, and nose.
In the eyes only could be caught any hint of the unknown quantities
that were so large a part of his make-up and that other persons could
not understand. These unknown quantities were pluck, pertinacity,
fearlessness, imagination, and cunning; and when they found expression
in some consistent and striking action, those about him were
astounded.

Mauki's father was chief over the village at Port Adams, and thus, by
birth a salt-water man, Mauki was half amphibian. He knew the way of
the fishes and oysters, and the reef was an open book to him. Canoes,
also, he knew. He learned to swim when he was a year old. At seven