ubs. The mats were evidently used for
sleeping on. They were made of the broad leaves of the pandanus, sewn
together, with their usual neatness, in three layers. One end is
sewn-up, so that when used for sleeping it forms a kind of sack, serving
at the same time for mattress and coverlid. We saw them also used in
rainy weather, worn over the head, the sewn-up end being uppermost,
serving thus the purpose of umbrella and greatcoat. Most of the men
wore in their belts a chopping-knife and axe. Some of them had besides
smaller knives, and a skin pouch, with a bamboo case, containing
betel-root, tobacco, and lime. The mats, however, were certainly the
most useful articles in their possession. They could be folded up in a
very small space for travelling, both as a protection from rain and as
bedding at night: indeed, they were equal in most respects to the
Mackintosh rugs used by our officers in campaigning.

We were expecting to go supperless to our cramped-up bed, when a woman,
with a more pleasing expression of countenance than most of those we had
seen, came to our room with a basket containing some plantains and yams,
with a few cooked fish. She signed to us to take the contents and give
her back the basket, with which she immediately disappeared. Anxiety
for the future would have kept us awake, had not our ears been assailed
by the loud chattering and laughter of the natives in the hut in which
we were located, as well as in those around us. Even in that small hut
there must have been a dozen or twenty people, which was not surprising,
if they were contented with the small space they had awarded us.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

OUR ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA.

Next morning, at an early hour, the whole community was on foot. The
men came out, and sat themselves down on their platforms, where they
began to smoke very curious pipes, made of a single piece of wood, with
an upright stalk under the bowl, which either rested on the ground or on
their knees. The tube was at right angles with this, and the bowl
shaped like a cup on the top of the stalk, a knot of wood at the outer
end of the tube serving to balance it. The women were seen going along
the beach to the shore, or descending into the small canoes, we
concluded either to fish, or to collect limpets or other molluscs from
the rocks for food. Not knowing exactly what to do, we got up and were
about to follow them, when a shout from Prince Frizzlepate, as we