el, or something like it, judging from the
effect in discolouring the teeth and giving a bloody appearance to the
saliva; each man carried his chewing materials in a small basket, the
lime, in fine powder, being contained in a neat calabash with a stopper,
and a carved piece of tortoise-shell like a paper-cutter was used to
convey it to the mouth.

(*Footnote. This allowed us to observe its contour, which was remarkable.
The forehead was narrow and receding, appearing as if artificially
flattened, thereby giving great prominence and width to the hinder part
of the skull. Altogether this man appeared so different from the rest,
that for some time he was supposed to belong to a different class of
people, but I afterwards often observed the same configuration of head
combined with dark coloured skin and diminutive stature.)

None had the artificial prominent scars on the body peculiar to the
Australians, or wanted any of the front teeth, but the septum of the nose
was perforated to admit an ornament of polished shell, pointed and
slightly turned up at each end. The lobe of the ear was slit, the hole
being either kept distended by a large plug of rolled-up leaf, apparently
of the banana, or hung with thin circular earrings made of the ground
down end of a cone-shell (Conus millepunctatus) one and a half inches in
diameter, with a central hole and a slit leading to the edge. A piece of
cloth-like substance, the dried leaf of the Pandanus or some palm was
used by all as a breech cloth--it passes between the legs and is secured
in front and behind to a narrow waist-band.

FIND NATIVES APPARENTLY FRIENDLY.

June 17th.

I formed one of the party in the second cutter, sent in command of
Lieutenant Simpson, on a similar mission to that of yesterday. As we
passed along the north side of Pig Island we saw small groups of natives
upon the grassy ridges watching the boat, and, upon our closely
approaching the north-west point of the island, one of them, whom we
recognised as our light-coloured acquaintance of yesterday, came running
down to the top of a bank inviting us by gestures to land.

Four of our party got on shore with difficulty after a long wade upon the
reef, up to the waist in water, but, on ascending the bank, the red man,
as we provisionally named him, retired to a small group of natives who
were coming up. Following them as they gradually fell back in the
direction of the village, in a short time the two foremost,