6o Voyage of the Novara. 



friend Bing-Hong aforesaid accompanied him in the capacity 

 of interpreter. When the geologist had got some distance 

 from the frigate, he found that the natives had not abandoned 

 their villages, and to this one alone of our fellow-travellers, 

 manned and rowed along by natives, did some of the women 

 become visible. They were as tall as the men, and quite as 

 loathsome in appearance, the mouth similarly disfigured by 

 betel-chewing, but the hair cut short. Around the body they 

 wore a petticoat of red or blue cloth, reaching from the loins 

 to the knee. 



Another excursion was made to Ulala Cove, distant about 

 four nautical miles from our anchorage on the W. side of the 

 island of Kamorta, on which occasion our Venetian gondola, 

 specially constructed for similar expeditions, was pressed into 

 the service. The entrance to the cove is about t of a mile in 

 breadth, after which it expands in an easterly direction with 

 varying width, at the same time sending off arms in every 

 direction. The vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant and 

 plentiful, and along the swampy shore consists mainly of 

 mangrove bushes, which at most points make it almost im- 

 practicable to disembark, and impart to the entire bay a 

 drear}^, desolate appearance. At the few villages scattered 

 along the shore, most of the natives had taken to flight. On 

 this occasion, however, it was not child-like terror that had 

 driven them away, but an evil conscience, for among the 

 other inhabitants this bay enjoys the sad reputation of hav- 

 ing on various occasions massacred the crews of small vessels, 



