Page:Picturesque New Guinea.djvu/195

 from the sand and grit blown up by the strong wind, to say nothing of the protection they afford against fles [sic] in the scrub. The teacher was rather uneasy about a little river named "Alerai" which had to be crossed before reaching Kerepunu. At dead low water it is only about knee deep, but on reaching it we found that the rising tide had extended its width about sixty yards. We shot a couple of brace out of a flock of curlews we found at its mouth. Having no mind to follow the example of Horace's peasant and sit down half-a-dozen hours in the broiling sun, "Expectantes dum defluit amnis," we stripped and prepared to wade across, braving the alligators, which the teacher informed us were plentiful and possessed good appetites. First went the boys carrying their burdens over their heads and fortunately keeping them dry, though the water reached up to their shoulders. The teacher and myself followed, and last of all came Mr. Bubb, my assistant. With my broad-brimmed straw hat, and goggles, and singlet, rolled up under my armpits, but otherwise in a state of nature, I must have presented a picturesque appearance, at any rate, I caused some amusement to our bearers, who sat waiting for us on the opposite side. The bottom was soft sand, sinking a foot with every step, but we got across without mishap and felt refreshed with our bath. Along the remaining two miles of hard beach I walked barefooted, but was compelled to resume my boots on crossing a neck of land covered with cocoa-nut trees and brushwood. Emerging from the thicket we found our ship snug at anchor in Hood Lagoon, with the village of Kerepunu as a background. The mouth of Hood Lagoon is about a mile wide and at high water sufficiently deep to allow vessels of fifteen feet draught to enter. Further inland it widens considerably and appears about eight miles long by six in diameter. The depth in some places is considerable, but the best anchorage is just within the narrow neck at the entrance. We got on board without loss of time and were glad of a bath and change of clothes. Tau, our guide, crossed over to Kerepunu to visit Manu, the teacher there, at whose house the teacher of Hula was also staying. Their wives had come with the ship to Kerepunu to assist in the ship's washing, fresh water being more abundant here than at Kalo or Hula.