Sailors' hats
are universally worn, and are generally made by the natives themselves
from plantain or palm leaves, or from the inside fibre of the
arrowroot. Some rather elderly men and women in the front rows were
taking notes of the sermon. I found afterwards that they belonged to
the Bible class, and that their great pride was to meet after the
service and repeat by heart nearly all they had heard. This seems to
show at least a desire to profit by the minister's efforts.
After the usual service there were two christenings. The babies were
held at the font by the men, who looked extremely sheepish. One baby
was grandly attired in a book-muslin dress, with flounces, a tail at
least six feet long dragging on the ground, and a lace cap with
cherry-coloured bows; the other was nearly as smart, in a white-worked
long frock and cap, trimmed with blue bows. The christenings over,
there was a hymn, somewhat monotonous as to time and tune, but sung
with much fervour, followed by the administration of the sacrament, in
which cocoa-nut milk took the place of wine, and bread-fruit that of
bread. The proper elements were originally used, but experience proved
that, although the bread went round pretty well, the cup was almost
invariably emptied by the first two or three communicants, sometimes
with unfortunate results.
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