THE ADMIRALTY ISLANDS. 453 



pieces of tub-hoop. The natives have no metals of their own, 

 excepting the ore of manganese, with which they blacken their 

 bodies. This ore they call " laban," and they have adopted the 

 same term for iron. They appear unable to work iron at all, 

 since they refused any pieces not of a form immediately appli- 

 cable to use. They preferred a small piece of hoop iron to a 

 conical mass of iron weighing several pounds. 



The natives are quieter than the Humboldt Bay men. There 

 was comparatively little noise when their canoes were alongside. 

 There was no combined shouting. The natives are rapacious 

 and greedy, and very jealous of one another. The chief showed 

 all these traits in the highest degree. They were ready enough 

 to thieve, but not so constantly on the look-out for plunder, as 

 the Humboldt Bay Papuans. 



The men showed no great astonishment at matches or a 

 burning-glass, apparently understanding the latter, and motion- 

 ing that the operator should wait until the sun came from 

 behind a cloud. Looking-glasses were not at all understood. 

 They were tried in all positions, as ornaments on the head 

 and breast, for example. The men seemed to see no advantage 

 in seeing their faces in them. In Labillardiere's time they broke 

 them to look for the picture, or man inside. Tobacco and pipes 

 were not understood. Biscuit was eagerly taken and eaten. 

 Great wonder was expressed at the whiteness of our legs and 

 chests by the natives, and the women at Dentrecasteaux Island 

 crowded with great curiosity and astonishment to look at a white 

 arm or chest. The natives, no doubt, thought our hands and 

 faces only painted white, and took our negroes on board for men 

 who had not got the paint on. 



I am convinced that both the Humboldt Bay and Admiralty 

 Island natives believed that we bought their weapons in order 

 to use them as such. They frequently, when offering spears, 

 and bows, showed by signs how well they would kill. No 

 doubt they think the Whites are a race which cannot make 

 bows and arrows for themselves. 



The ship was anchored in " Nares Anchorage," which is 

 sheltered by a line of outlying reefs running parallel with 

 the shore, and by numerous small islands. On the line of 



