TO RADACK. 25 



plant them ; and I enquired, as well as 1 was able, 

 whence they procured the water which I found 

 with them in cocoa shells. They understood me, 

 and conducted me to a place almost in the middle 

 of the island, where the rain-water collects in a 

 pool from the higher grounds. We now went to 

 the shore, where we met with some large trees 

 which had been drifted there by the sea, and 

 resembled our oaks. Coming up again to the 

 huts, the chief invited us to enter his, which con- 

 sisted of a roof resting on four poles ; two mats 

 were laid down in the inside, on which we were 

 invited to sit. A woman dressed a pandanus fruit, 

 which she bruised with a stone ; the man then 

 pressed the juice into a shell ; and though all this 

 was done with the hands, it was done with the 

 greatest cleanliness j and as he was presenting us 

 with the juice, and something fell into it, he did not 

 take it out with his fingers, but with a chip. During 

 this time our sailors were entertained in another hut. 

 I made the chief a present of two knives and some 

 pieces of iron, and M. Chamisso of some fishing- 

 hooks. We invited him to come to our ships and 

 he seemed much pleased with us. We had thus 

 formed a new acquaintance, and the word Aidara 

 was often exchanged between us. Our new 

 friends also accompanied us to the shore, and 

 assisted us in getting our boat into the water.** 



The small number of people whom SchischmarefF 

 met with, leads me to suppose that they must have 



