s it on his foot in
the same way, and returns it. The rule appeared to be that the ball
should never be touched by the hand, but that the arms, shoulder, or
knee may be employed. Far less satisfactory was their custom of
cock-fighting. Steel spurs are used, as they were formerly in civilised
England; and the spectators, who stand round in a ring, show their
savage character by their fearful yells and leaps as they see their
cocks likely to win or lose.

We saw shells used here for every purpose. Some of the magnificent
volute shells were employed as baskets; while gigantic helmet shells,
suspended by ratan handles, formed the vessels in which fresh water was
brought from house to house.

I was delighted to find that Mr Hooker had resolved to make an
excursion into the interior of the mainland for the sake of obtaining
some birds of paradise. As the fatigue might be too great for the young
ladies, they remained on board under charge of Frau Ursula; Oliver and I
only accompanying him, with two native hunters, a trustworthy guide, and
an interpreter who spoke Dutch. The natives of these islands, I should
say, are Papuans, and in some parts are said to be very savage. They
are expert archers, and are never seen without their bows and arrows.
They shoot pigs and kangaroos with them, as well as all sorts of birds.
We met some of the natives who came from the south islands, who were
even more savage in appearance and manners than the rest. They wore a
number of rude ornaments--one of comb, shaped like a horse-shoe, on
their foreheads, the ends resting on the temples. The end of this
ornament is fastened into a piece of wood, plated in front with tin;
above it waves a plume of feathers of a cock's tail.

In the Aru Islands are found a number of birds of paradise, some,
indeed, of the most beautiful, which I will describe shortly.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

A SEARCH FOR BIRDS OF PARADISE.

I must give a very brief account of our excursion, which we had just
before projected. A native boat carried us across to the mainland, and
landing, we were amused with the number of sea-shells which we found on
the ground away from the beach. They were of a variety of shapes and
kinds, which had been taken possession of by those curious creatures,
the hermit crabs, who wander into the forest in search of food.
Sometimes, however, they become food themselves to huge spiders, and we
saw one monster carry away a fair-sized shell,