46 BARTERING SCENE. 



had been broug-ht from Dowde or New Guinea^ many 

 years ag-o. Siwai and his sons^ at their own urgent 

 request^ were allowed a passag-e Avith us to the ship^ 

 and remained all nig-ht there^ sleeping- among- the 

 folds of a sail upon the poop. 



Dec. 12th. — In the morning- a party landed at 

 Bikar (abreast of the ship) to look for water^ but the 

 pool which on several occasions supplied the Fly, 

 Bramble, and Prince Georg-e, was now dry. At 

 this season too, during- the prevalence of N.W. 

 ^dnds, landing- is difficult on account of the surf^ 

 and we had much trouble in keeping- our g-uns dr^^ 

 A\hile up to the waist in water. In the afternoon 

 both cutters were sent to Mog'or to procure veg-e- 

 tables for the ship's company by barter with the 

 natives, and I accompanied the party, but, contrary 

 to expectation, no one was allowed to land, the 

 person in authority " having- seen something-" on 

 shore to alarm him, the natm'e of which continued 

 to us a mj'stery. The second cutter laid off, and 

 the first remained in water about knee-deep, sur- 

 rounded by a crowd of unarmed natives. The scene 

 was at that time very animated — g-roups of men, 

 women, and children, were to be seen stag-g-ering- 

 under a load of cocoa-nuts, wading- out to the boats, 

 scrambling- to be first served, and shouting- out to 

 attract attention to their wares, which in addition 

 included some tortoise-shell, a few yams, bananas 

 and mang-os. SiA^ai was present in the boat, and 

 by exercising- his authority in our behalf, matters 



