408 NATURAL SCIENCE. j UNE , 



During the first three days of the voyage from Batavia, I noticed 

 a large number of snakes (Hydrophidae), averaging from 18 inches to 

 2 feet in length, and ranging in colour from pure white, through 

 yellow, to dark brown, floating on the surface of the sea. After the 

 third day I saw no more of them ; but they occur here in Blanche 

 Bay. 



After touching at several points on the coast of New Guinea to 

 land goods, we at last anchored off Herbertshohe on the evening of 

 December 15, and next day I landed at Ralum, where I was received 

 with great kindness into the house of Mr. Richard Parkinson, to 

 whom I had brought a generous introduction from Dr. Anton Dohrn. 



Mr. Parkinson, as is well-known, has himself produced works 3 

 of great ethnographic value, and my surroundings were, therefore, at 

 once of a sympathetic description. 



Later on Mr. Parkinson caused a commodious bamboo laboratory 

 to be erected on the beach at Ralum, and with the assistance of Mrs. 

 Parkinson, whose knowledge of the native language and character is 

 most intimate, I purchased a small native hut on an island which 

 was thrown up in Blanche Bay during an eruption in 1879, so that 

 I could have an accessory laboratory and shelter in the immediate 

 vicinity of the habitat of the Pearly Nautilus. 



This island is called by the natives Rakaiya, which means " the 

 spirit "; on the maps it is marked Raluan or Vulcan Island. It is 

 rather badly placed for squalls and earthquakes, but is otherwise not 

 unpleasant. 



The native canoes are of excellent, though simple, construction, 

 and I was anxious to purchase one for use in surface-dredging ; but 

 up to the present it has been impossible to do so, since the natives will 

 only accept native shell-money* (dewarra or tambu) in payment. It 

 is very difficult for white men to get hold of any of this dewarra. 

 Gold will not tempt the natives to part with it. And, indeed, unless 

 one is willing to purchase it from traders at the rate of three shillings 

 a fathom, the only way to obtain it is by attending the funerals of 

 chiefs and great men. This is, however, rather a tedious process, as 

 we found on one occasion, when Mr. Parkinson and I attended the 

 funeral of a man called Tononat, the son of a former great chief. We 

 had to wait seven continuous hours before the dewarra was dis- 

 tributed. 5 During this time the women were wailing, the men were 



3 Cf. "Im Bismarck Archipel. Ergebnisse und Beobachtungen auf der Insel 

 Neu-Pommern (Neu-Britannien)." Leipzig: 1887. Also "Album von Papua- 

 Typen," in conjunction with A. B. Meyer, Dresden (Stengel and Markert), 1894. 

 In this work the photographic reproductions are of surpassing excellence. 



4 The shells are the small Nassa callosa var. camelus v. Martens. (See Dr. O. 

 Finsch). " Ethnologische Erfahrungen aus der Sudsee." Wien : 1893. P. 387. 



5 The distribution of dewarra which occurs at the funeral of a rich man, among 

 all the men who are, as it were, in at the death, is a remarkable spectacle. On the 

 above occasion the amount of dewarra thus disbursed would correspond roughly to 

 £150 sterling. 



