STATEMENT OF DR. VALLACK. 239 



about Mr. Kennedy. Saw three native fires on 

 our voyag'e liere^ one on this south end of Albany 

 Island^ one between it and here^ and one on shore 

 abreast of us. 



Dec. 25th. — At dayhght in the morning" a dead 

 cahn^ and the hottest day we have had^ the sun was 

 so glaring* that the altitude could not be taken. At 

 about a quarter before ten a.m. a lig'ht breeze came 

 on and we left our anchorag-e^ the breeze increased 

 a little^ before eleven ; saw wliat appeared to be an 

 island at first ; on nearing-^ found it to be a canoe, 

 about fifteen feet long*, with seven or eig'ht natives 

 in it, shearing* about, sometimes in one direction, 

 sometimes in another. After a little we heard them 

 calling- out, " paoud," " whappee," " chauca/' some 

 of them standing' up. I named to the Captain that 

 I thoug'ht they must be fi'om Cape York, from their 

 words, and that it would be at least desirable to 

 g'lean information from them, if possible, concerning* 

 Mr. Kennedy. The Captain said, " We will not 

 call out ^ paoud,'" (which means peace) but occa- 

 sionally the words ^' chauca," (tobacco) " biskey," 

 (biscuit) were called out from the ship. They fi'om 

 this drew close to the vessel, very wary, however, 

 in doing* so. Jackey was placed in the fore-top, 

 and word came that Jackey knew all these fellows, 

 that they were the party who speared Mr. Kennedy. 

 One black was allowed to come on board, and whilst 

 he was partly in the ship, word came to me by 

 Parker (a seaman), that Jackey wanted to speak to 



