524 Voyage from Ceram 



quainted with the coast of Waigiou having been left on the 

 island. We therefore took in all sail and allowed ourselves to 

 drift, as we were some miles from the nearest land. A light 

 breeze, however, sprang up, and about midnight we found our- 

 selves again bumj^ing over a coral reef. As it was very dark, 

 and we knew nothing of our position, we could only guess 

 how to get off again, and had there been a little more wind 

 we might have been knocked to pieces. However, in about 

 half an hour we did get off, and then thought it best to an- 

 chor on the edge of the reef till morning. Soon after daylight 

 on the 2Yth, finding our prau had received no damage, we 

 sailed on with uncertain winds and squalls, threading our way 

 among islands and reefs, and guided only by a small map, 

 which was very incorrect and quite useless, and by a general 

 notion of the direction we ought to take. In the afternoon 

 we found a tolerable anchorage under a small island and staid 

 for the night, and I shot a large fruit-j^igeon new to me, which 

 I have since named Carpophaga tumida. I also saw and shot 

 at the rare white-headed kingfisher (Halcyon saurophaga), but 

 did not kill it. The next morning we sailed on, and having a 

 fair wind reached the shores of the large island of Waigiou. 

 On rounding a point we again ran full on to a coral reef with 

 our mainsail up, but luckily the wind had almost died away, 

 and with a good deal of exertion we managed to get safely off. 

 We now had to search for the narrow channel among the 

 islands, Avhich we knew was somewhere hereabouts, and which 

 leads to the villages on the south side of Waigiou. Entering 

 a deep bay which looked promising, we got to the end of it, 

 but it was then dusk, so we anchored for the night, and having 

 just finished all our water could cook no rice for supper. 

 Next morning early (29th) we went on shore among the man- 

 groves, and a little way inland found some water, which re- 

 lieved our anxiety considerably, and left us free to go along 

 the coast in search of the opening, or of some one who could 

 direct us to it. During the three days we had now been 

 among the reefs and islands, we had only seen a single small 

 canoe, which had approached pretty near to us, and then, not- 

 withstanding our signals, went off in another direction. The 

 shores seemed all desert ; not a house, or boat, or human being, 

 or a puff of smoke was to be seen ; and as we could only go 



