Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/126

98 reef, where hundreds of the natives are collected, and, by throwing a rope to them, the ship is pulled up to the anchorage.—Ships can moor close to the shore, so as to have a stage from thence, and be as safe as if they were in the London Docks. A fine round battery on the S. E. flat, or point, mounting about sixty guns, protects the village and harbour. The fort occupies about eight acres of ground; the facing of the wall is stone, about eighteen feet high, and about the same breadth on the top, gradually sloping to make a base of about thirty feet. It is constructed of hard clay and dry grass and sand well cemented together; on the top of this wall are embrasures built of the same materials, without stone; the guns are mounted all round, and are from four to eighteen pounders, the heaviest guns facing the sea. The magazine is under ground and well secured; and in the middle of the fort stands a flag-staff, on which the island colours are displayed, consisting of a union jack, with a red and blue stripe for each island. Round the flag-staff are the chiefs houses, and barracks for the soldiers. The strictest discipline is observed; the guard relieved very regularly in the night, and the word "All is well," sung out in English every ten minutes! The Americans supply them with powder and stores, for which they get sandal wood, rope, hogs, vegetables, etc. The village consists of about 300 houses regularly built, those of the chiefs being larger and fenced in. Each family must have three houses, one to sleep in, one for the men to eat in, and one for