177^. ROUND THE WORLD. 105 



of which we shot : it was as large as a turkey, and 

 weighed seventeen pounds and a half. We all 

 agreed that this was the best bird we had eaten 

 since we left England ; and in honour of it we 

 called this inlet Bustard Bay. It lies in latitude 

 24 4', longitude 208 18'. The sea seemed to 

 abound with fish ; but, unhappily, we tore our seine 

 all to pieces at the first haul. Upon the mud banks, 

 under the mangroves, we found innumerable oysters 

 of various kinds ; among others, the hammer-oyster, 

 and a large proportion of small pearl-oysters : if in 

 deeper water there is equal plenty of such oysters at 

 their full growth, a pearl fishery might certainly be 

 established here to very great advantage. 



The people who were left on board the ship said, 

 that while we were in the woods about twenty of the 

 natives came down to the beach, abreast of her, and 

 having looked at her some time, went away ; but 

 we that were ashore, though we saw smoke in many 

 places, saw no people : the smoke was at places too 

 distant for us to get to them by land, except one, to 

 which we repaired : we found ten small fires still 

 burning within a few paces of each other ; but the 

 people were gone. We saw near them several vessels 

 of bark, which we supposed to have contained water, 

 and some shells and fish-bones, the remains of a 

 recent meal. We saw also, lying upon the ground, 

 several pieces of soft bark, about the length and 

 breadth of a man, which we imagined might be 

 their beds ; and, on the windward side of the fires, a 

 small shade, about a foot and a half high, of the same 

 substance. The whole was in a thicket of close 

 trees, which afforded good shelter from the wind. 

 The place seemed to be much trodden, and as we 

 saw no house, nor any remains of a house, we were 

 inclined to believe that, as these people had no 

 clothes, they had no dwelling, but spent their 

 nights, among the other commoners of nature, in 

 the open air; and Tupia himself, with an air of 



