586 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



The presents they appreciate most are the iron tomahawks, just 

 as in the time of Captain King (19) and Bremer (20). 



The scars by which they decorate the body are totally different 

 from the ornamentations on the mainland. They seem to imitate 

 leaves arranged on a branch ; but I make the suggestion that they 

 are connected with the arrangement of the barbs on the spears. 



Our conversation was mostly restricted to signs, but some interpre- 

 tation of words was managed by the two Island boys we had on board. 



On several points of the coast I had the opportunity of meeting 

 natives of the island. After crying out for them " Pongi, Pongi," 

 which means " good friend," they nearly all came to the ship, and I 

 never had any bad experiences (21). 



After leaving our black friends we made another landing on 

 Buchanan Island, near the southern entrance to Apsley Strait, where 

 our natives secured a good supply of turtle eggs. Next day (September 

 21st) the narrow Apsley Strait was entered, and in the afternoon anchor 

 was dropped off the old settlement of Fort Dundas, the reUcs of which 

 are well described in the Government report, 1905 (22). Some hundred 

 yards south from this place I came across an excellent specimen of a 

 grave decorated by monuments, as discovered and briefly mentioned 

 by Captain Bremer, but never scientifically described. 



The grave was surrounded by nine wooden pillars arranged in an 

 elongated oval, each post differing in size and shape from its fellow. 

 The longest was about 6ft., and each was variously painted in yellows and 

 reds. Some of the pillars were capped with water vessels made of bark 

 and perforated by two openings, the borders of which were carefully 

 fixed with stringwork. The meaning of this arrangement was explained 

 to me by one of our Island boys. The water vessels indicate that there 

 a woman was buried, and the perforations of the vessels show that she 

 has been speared. 



There must be something in the arrangement of the painted 

 symbols on the pillars indicative of the position in which the corpse 

 lies. One of our Island natives, on being requested to do so, without 

 the slightest hesitation dug down at the west end of the enclosure and 

 discovered, at a depth of about 2ft., the skull, which proved to be that 

 of a very young lubra. 



After cutting off the upper part of one of the pillars we returned 

 to the boat, very Ukely observed, but not attacked, by the natives. 

 But at night, as we were lying at anchor near Luxmore Head, firesticks 

 carried by natives were seen moving about among the timber ; there- 

 fore it was decided to run no risk, and the intention to obtain water 

 was postponed till the following morning. 



(19) King. — Vol. I., p. Ill : " After a short parley with them, in which they 

 repeatedly asked for axes by imitating the action of chopping . . . . " 



(20) Bremer and Campbell made often the experience that axes have been 

 stolen by the natives. 



(21) Cf. Government report, 1905, I.e., p. 28. 



(22) L.c, p. 27. — A view of Fort Dundas, taken from Garden Point, 1824, is- 

 published in King, vol. n., p. 237. 



