(87) our religion. They simply have a hankering for any thing mystical and Catholicism is the best form for them. Father Wade declares his parishioners "most devout" and well will saving. He is a beautiful character--re- ceives no compensation and is resigned to die somewhere around the Bukas". He conducts a remarkable school, using the most ingenious analogies to illustrate knowledge. Then he administers to the sick and advises them on everything wholly unselfish and sincere. He is the only person in this district who is respected and more often loved by all of the white residents. I listened to a sermon in "pidgin", at the conclusion of which he called for prayer, for the expe- ditions success and my victory over Balbi, the vol- teer. I have decided to take a camping trip up there. Father Wade can lend great assistance. For this purpose he and I went inland on Buka to Gaga where Father Chaize dwells. He knows more about Bougainville than anyone, having been here 18 years. We arrived about 6 P.M. after a five-mile canoe trip up a river--we with a ris- ing tide of fever. Father Chaize had just finished evening mass. He was very cordial and intensely interesting. The evening meal was truly monastic. We talked until very late--mostly about Buka and its natives. He said, "I have been way there for eighteen years, and I am just realizing how little I know about them." The ordinary white resident knows nothing about the real native according to him. He showed me numerous photographs and a grammar & dictionary of the Buka language. It is highly inflected, like Greek, with a very limited alphabet and about eight verb moods, with a corresponding number of tenses. Apparently there is one language on Buka and many dialects. Fifteen years ago, the greater part of them practiced cannibalism. In attestation of their sincerity as Christians he said they came regularly to church, men, children, and wives with pickaninnies, through