Lehner. P.
1964
Nov. 17 - continued 2
old man, they have very few prisoners a year;
he went on to say that a similar drum is used
to signal the islands ten o'clock curfew(which
was apparently lifted while we were on the island);
we wandered about the village, got the rat
traps out, learned what we could from the
natives about the birds and then prepared to
depart about dusk - we had eaten before leaving
the ship; Roger, Ken and Larry returned to
the raft having collected the following birds:
1 Pacific Pigeon, 7 Common Noddies, 5 Hawaiian
Noddies, and 5 Fairy Terns; we returned to the
ship at dusk, but George, Dave, Jim and myself
came back ashore shortly thereafter; we met
most of the crew on shore and three of us were
invited to the wireless operator's hut for a
chat and accepted; he had two cute children
and a beautiful wife who served us coconut
milk; he taught me the following Gilbertese
words which I wish I had known earlier:
Yulcke - no, Konamauri - hello, Koraba - thank
you, Tjakabo - good bye, Konaera - where are
you going? we left his hut and wandered down
the road; I met George, Dave and Jim and the
four of us sat down by the flagpole to sing
and entertain the children - we attracted about
30 children and several adults, including the
English speaking old man; we sang, got them to
sing and then taught them "Row, row, row, your
boat" and how to sing it in groups; they learned
the song very well and sang it many times while
we were on the island - once when three native
boys paddled Dave to the ship in a canoe, they
sang it all the way out; the children are very
quick to learn and are anxious to pick up any
English at all - they ask your name and the
name of your family members and relatives -
they not only ask, but also remember them; the
(over)