y affected. I distributed some Turner's
cerate to the women, but left Fraser to superintend its application. It
could do no good, of course, but it convinced the natives we intended
well towards them, and, on that account, it was politic to give it,
setting aside any humane feeling.

POPULOUS DISTRICT.

The country through which we passed on the 28th, was extremely low,
full of lagoons, and thickly inhabited. No change took place in the
river, or in the nature and construction of its banks. We succeeded in
getting a view of the hills we had noticed when with the last tribe,
and found that they bore from us due north, N. 22 E., and S. 130 W.
They looked bare and perpendicular, and appeared to be about twenty
miles from us. I am very uncertain as to the character of these hills,
but still think that they must have been some of the faces of the bold
cliffs that we had frequently passed under. From the size and number of
the huts, and from the great breadth of the foot-paths, we were still
further led to conclude that we were passing through a very populous
district. What the actual number of inhabitants was it is impossible to
say, but we seldom communicated with fewer than 200 daily. They sent
ambassadors forward regularly from one tribe to another, in order to
prepare for our approach, a custom that not only saved us an infinity
of time, but also great personal risk. Indeed, I doubt very much
whether we should ever have pushed so far down the river, had we not
been assisted by the natives themselves. I was particularly careful not
to do anything that would alarm them, or to permit any liberty to be
taken with their women. Our reserve in this respect seemed to excite
their surprise, for they asked sundry questions, by signs and
expressions, as to whether we had any women, and where they were. The
whole tribe generally assembled to receive us, and all, without
exception, were in a complete state of nudity, and really the loathsome
condition and hideous countenances of the women would, I should
imagine, have been a complete antidote to the sexual passion. It is to
be observed, that the women are very inferior in appearance to the men.
The latter are, generally speaking, a clean-limbed and powerful race,
much stouter in the bust than below, but withal, active, and, in some
respects, intelligent; but the women are poor, weak, and emaciated.
This, perhaps, is owing to their poverty and paucity of food, and to
the treatment t