MEET NATIVES IN DISTREbS. 119 



boy^ in g*reat distress from want of water^ until 

 Lieut. Yule kindly supplied tlieir wants. They had 

 been Avind-bound here for several days^ the weather 

 for some time previously having- been too boisterous 

 to admit of attempting* to reach the shore^ althoug-h 

 only a few miles distant^ in their split and patched- 

 up canoe. This was of small size^ the hollowed out 

 trunk of a tree^ with a double outrig'g'er^ and alto- 

 gether a poor imitation of that used by the islanders 

 of Torres Strait ; the paddles were of rude work- 

 manships shaped like a long--handled cricket-bat. 

 Their spears and throwing- sticks were of the same 

 kind as those in use at Cape York^ to be afterwards 

 described. These people were wretched specimens 

 of their race^ lean and lanky^ and one was suffering* 

 from ophthalmia^ looking* quite a miserable object ; 

 they had come here in searchof turtle,— as I under- 

 stood. Each of the men had lost a front toothy and 

 one had the oval cicatrix on the rig*ht shoulder^ cha- 

 racteristic of the northern natives^ an imitation of that 

 of the islanders. They shewed little curiosity^ and 

 trembled with fear^ as if suspicious of our intentions. 

 I made a fruitless attempt to pick up some scraps of 

 their lang*uag*e 3 they understood the word powd or 

 ^'^ peace" of Torres Strait. 



On this island the principal trees are the leafless 

 Erythrina^ with waxy^ pink flowers. Great num- 

 bers of pig*eons resorted here to roost. I found here 

 a larg*e colony of that rare and beautiful tern, 



