for the first two or three days after leaving it
numbers of sago palms, some quite recent, were observed on the water,
occasionally with boobies and noddies perched upon them. These trees had
probably grown upon the banks of the rivers of the bay, and been washed
away by the undermining of the low alluvial banks on which they grow, and
carried out to sea by the current. Along several of the freshwater
channels on the western side of the Great Bight examined by the Fly's
boats in 1844, I had seen this palm growing on the margin of the stream
in great profusion, and according to Giaom, the bisi tree (as she called
it) is occasionally carried by the winds and currents as far south as the
Prince of Wales Islands, when the natives scoop out the soft spongy inner
wood, wash it well with fresh water, beat it up into a pulp, separate the
farinaceous substance which falls to the bottom of the vessel, and bake
it as bread. On no part of the coast of New Guinea, however, did we ever
see any of this sago bread, which is known to constitute the principal
food of the inhabitants of the north-west coast of that great island.*

(*Footnote. Forrest endeavours to show that an acre of ground planted
with 300 sago palms will maintain fourteen men, as each tree produces 300
pounds of sago flour, when arrived at full maturity in its seventh year.
Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas in 1774 to 1776 by Captain Thomas
Forrest second edition page 44.)

On one occasion lately the water was discoloured by a conferva resembling
the sea-sawdust of Captain Cook, with which it was found to agree
generically in consisting of long filaments joined together by a softer
gelatinous-looking substance. The present species, however, is six times
larger than the more common sort, some of which was mixed up with it,
their diameters as ascertained by Mr. Huxley, being respectively 8 1/2
over 5000 and 1 1/8 over 5000 of an inch.

Today we stood in for the Duchateau Isles, and, rounding them to the
westward, anchored in the afternoon in seventeen fathoms, with the
central island bearing south, distant one mile.

SHOOTING PARTY ON DUCHATEAU ISLES.

January 7th.

Along with a shooting party I landed soon after daylight on the
westernmost Duchateau Island. Numbers of Nicobar pigeons left the island
as we approached, having apparently used it merely as a roosting-place.

HABITS OF DUPERREY'S MEGAPODIUS.

Heavy showers and thunderclouds passed over at interva