icles I gave a copper ring and a yard
of calico. The canoes were very narrow and furnished with an outrigger,
and in some of them there was only one man, who seemed to think nothing
of coming out alone eight or ten miles from shore. The people were
Papuans, much resembling the natives of Aru.

When we had got out of the Straits, and were fairly in the great Pacific
Ocean, we had a steady wind for the first time since leaving Ternate,
but unfortunately it was dead ahead, and we had to beat against it,
tacking on and off the coast of New Guinea. I looked with intense
interest on those rugged mountains, retreating ridge behind ridge into
the interior, where the foot of civilized man had never trod. There
was the country of the cassowary and the tree-kangaroo, and those dark
forests produced the most extraordinary and the most beautiful of the
feathered inhabitants of the earth--the varied species of Birds of
Paradise. A few days more and I hoped to be in pursuit of these, and of
the scarcely less beautiful insects which accompany them. We had still,
however, for several days only calms and light head-winds, and it was
not till the 10th of April that a fine westerly breeze set in, followed
by a squally night, which kept us off the entrance of Dorey harbour.
The next morning we entered, and came to anchor off the small island
of Mansinam, on which dwelt two German missionaries, Messrs. Otto and
Geisler. The former immediately came on board to give us welcome,
and invited us to go on shore and breakfast with him. We were then
introduced to his companion who was suffering dreadfully from an abscess
on the heel, which had confined him to the house for six months--and
to his wife, a young German woman, who had been out only three months.
Unfortunately she could speak no Malay or English, and had to guess at
our compliments on her excellent breakfast by the justice we did to it.

These missionaries were working men, and had been sent out, as being
more useful among savages than persons of a higher class. They had
been here about two years, and Mr. Otto had already learnt to speak the
Papuan language with fluency, and had begun translating some portions of
the Bible. The language, however, is so poor that a considerable number
of Malay words have to be used; and it is very questionable whether it
is possible to convey any idea of such a book, to a people in so low a
state of civilization. The only nominal converts yet made are a f