off the seller, and took another one in hand.

At four o'clock in the afternoon we ceased work on board and went on
shore to "buy money".

The village square was crowded with women and children, every one of
whom had money--mostly in English five-shilling pieces. Some of these
coins were bent and twisted into the most curious shape, some were
imbedded in lumps of coral, and nearly all gave evidence of the terrific
fury of the seas which had cast them up upon the reef from a depth of
seven fathoms of water. Many were merely round lumps, having been rolled
over and over among the sand and coral. These I demurred to accepting
on the terms agreed upon for undamaged coins, and the natives cheerfully
agreed to my decision.

That day we bought silver coin, damaged and undamaged, to the value of
L350, for trade goods worth about L17 or L18.

And for the following two weeks, whilst White and our crew were
hammering and coopering away at the oil casks, and stowing them under
hatches, I was paying out the trade goods for the oil, and "buying
money".

We remained at Mayu for a month, until there was no more money to be
found--except a few coins (or rather what had once been coins); and then
with a ship full of oil, and with L2,100 worth of money, we left and
sailed for Sydney.

White sold the money _en bloc_ to the Sydney mint for L1,850. The oil
realised L2,400, and the copper, etc., L250. My share came to over
L400--exclusive of four months' wages--making nearly L500. This was the
best bit of trading luck that I ever met with.

I must add that even up to 1895 silver coins from the Dutch barque were
still being found by the natives of Woodlark Islands.

CHAPTER XXVI ~ MODERN PIRATES

Piracy, as most people are aware, is not yet quite extinct in Chinese
and East Indian waters, despite the efforts that have been made to
utterly stamp it out. But it is not generally known that along the
shores of Dutch New Guinea, on both sides of the great island, there are
still vigorous communities of native pirates, who will not hesitate to
attack even armed trading vessels. These savages combine the business
of head-hunting with piracy, and although they do not possess modern
firearms, and their crafts are simply huge canoes, they show the most
determined courage, even when attacking a vessel manned by Europeans.

The annual reports of the Governors of Dutch, German and British New
Guinea, detailing the murderous doings of the