Indian exploratory parties under orders to establish "friendly relations" with the islanders have made brief landings on the islands every few years since 1967. Unencumbered by security worries for a royal dignitary, they could take higher risks. Their usual reception, however, was just as unfriendly as the one for the ex-king. It was all the visitors could do to place gifts of coconuts, plastic buckets, iron tools and other marvels of modern civilization on the beach before they had to scramble back into their dinghy, sometimes under a shower of seriously hostile arrows. Blood was drawn at least once, in March 1974, when an arrow met its mark in the left thigh of the visiting team's cameraman. On seeing that he had scored a hit, the marksman on the beach laughed happily before stalking away to sit proudly in the shade of a tree. He clearly considered that he had done his duty by his people, as indeed he had.