the natives are required to cultivate, makes some suggestions, and departs after collecting the taxes. In the village which is not under government control, or which, for instance, has never been visited before, the patrol officer takes the caution of augmenting his guard of police boys. If he is not ambushed he makes a successful entry into the village, he chats with the chief as best he can through one of the interpre- ters he carries with him, and departs without collect- ing any taxes at all. It is the policy of the govern- ment to have been able to make a peaceful visit to a village for a period of at least four years before asking them to pay any taxes. The taxes amount to about five shillings a year for each head. It appears to be the policy of the government as well that in the event of an ambush or of an unsuccessful visit it sends its patrol officer again to make a peaceful attempt. This policy is often frustrated by indignant punitive expeditions and indeed the government itself not infrequently authorises punishment to be inflicted. But as a rule the policy is one of slow aggrandizement of native territory and a gradual making friends process. The natives, especially the Kanakas, or bush natives, are a very timid lot on Bougainville. They have not accustomed themselves to the presence of the white man. The visits of the patrol officers and the government doctor to the bush villages, and the trips of the taxpaying Kanakas to Kieta, will, in the extended