296 MORE NATIVES VISIT US. 



apparantly the mouth of a larg'e river. They were 

 in three canoes carrying* respectively seven^ four^ and 

 three people^ and paddled up along-side without hesi- 

 tation^ appearing* anxious to be admitted on board^ 

 holding* on by the chains and peeping- into the ports 

 in a most inquisitive manner. With the exception 

 of two or three cocoa-nuts nothing- was brought to 

 barter with^ but they readily parted with bows and 

 arrows^ of which they had a very larg-e supply. 

 These bows appear to be made of the hard heavy 

 wood of the cocoa-nut tree^ pointed at each end^ 

 and varjang- in leng'th from five to six feet^ wdth a 

 g-reatest width of an inch and a quarter and thickness 

 of five-eig-hths. The string- is a strip of rattan three- 

 eig-hths of an inch wide. The arrows are precisely 

 similar to those used by the Torres Strait Islanders, 

 consisting* of a head of cocoa-nut wood^ nine to 

 eighteen inches in leng-th_, shipped into a light 

 reed 2J to o\ feet in lengthy and secured b}^ a 

 neat cane plaiting. They are variously barbed on 

 the edges in one or more series^ or furnished 

 with constrictions at short intervals which would 

 cause a piece readily to break off in a wound 

 and remain there. Some were headed with a piece 

 of bamboo shaped like a g*ouge or scoop^ and several 

 other varieties were observed. This is the first 

 occasion of our meeting* with these weapons^ which 

 appear almost completely to have superseded the 

 spear of which only a few small ones were seen in the 

 canoes. In exchange for their bows and arrows the 



