UNABLE TO FIND WATER. 45 



had been on a visit to a friendly tribe, one of whose 

 quan'els they espoused, and only a few returned to 

 Err lib to tell the tale. The natives wished us to 

 stay at Kiriam, but as the principal object of the 

 ship's coming- to the island was to procure water, 

 we were anxious to know whether it could be ob- 

 tained in sufficient quantity at Bikar, where the 

 Flv and Bramble had watered before. As Siwai 

 told us that there was none at Bikar, but plenty at 

 Mogor— his own villag-e — we pulled along- to the 

 latter place, accompanied by himself and three of 

 his sons. In passing" alon^ the south-west side of 

 the island, we were struck with the superior richness 

 of veg-etation and apparent fertility, compared with 

 what we had seen in New Guinea and the Louisiade 

 Archipelag'o during* the previous part of the cruise. 

 Some portions reminded one of Eng-lish park scenery, 

 — g'ently sloping", undulating-, g-rassy hills, with 

 scattered clumps and lines of trees. 



On landing- at the villag-e, which consists of two 

 or tlu-ee houses only, we were taken a quarter of a 

 mile — by a path leadhig- along- a small valley throug-h 

 a g-rove of cocoa-nut trees, bananas, and various cul- 

 tivated plants, (among- which I observed the Mang-o 

 in full bearing-) — to a pool of water in the dried-up 

 bed of a small rivulet. But the quantity of water 

 was not enoug'h for our purpose, even had it been 

 situated in a place more easy of access. Some 

 magnificent Sag-o palms overhung- the water with 

 their larg-e spreading- fronds; these we were told 



