and is at present operated by a Mr. Polson, a Scan- danavian, who like many of his race, came here years ago as a sailor, and after trying many different jobs and many different ships, settled down finally to the long contemplation of plantation manager. He is a bachelor and has all his comforts attended to by his black cook boy. It is pleasant to note the pride and trouble that many of the plantation men here take in their cook boys. They go to great length in showing them how to make palatable white man's dishes, adorn them in the best of calico, and body decorations, and generally depend on them when they are drunk to take care of them and put them to bed. Polson certainly shows his twenty odd years in the tropics, and speaks the pidgin English far more easily than he does the pure tongue itself. He was very nice to us, gave us many pointers on the island and the natives, and showered us with fresh megapode eggs and nahli nuts. Simbo has the reputation of being the oldest planted island in the Solomons. It is said that the natives had had the whole island under cultivation and cleared of bush and vines when Mendana first put in to these latitudes. It shows very clear signs of such a history. The population of the island is heavy, there being over a thousand souls, and gardens are laid out every- where. Indeed it is difficult to find any place that is really bush so omnipresent are the fields of taro, cab- bage, paw paw, and other native vegetables.