FROM GUAHON TO ST. HELENA. ^75 



scissors, knives, and some other trifles, vvliich 

 pleased him, but did not wholly satisfy him. His 

 chief desire was to have a pistol, which he named 

 intelligibly, and powder, which he called in his 

 language, Belbedil ; and as I did not give it him, 

 he seemed to regret that he had been in too great 

 a hurry in parting with the turtle. In the mean 

 time, another canoe arrived with five men, of 

 whom one spoke a little Spanish and English ; the 

 cargo likewise consisted of monkeys and turtles, 

 but which they would only part with for piasters, 

 pistols, and belbedil ; and when they received a 

 piaster, they sounded it for a long time, to see 

 whether it was really silver. We bought several 

 monkeys, among which there was one that had the 

 face of an old woman, and was of a species which 

 our naturalists declared hitherto unknown in natu- 

 ral history. They also let us have some fowls, and 

 one might certainly be easily supplied with provi- 

 sions, if one would stay a few days. After the 

 islanders had disposed of almost all their goods, 

 they left the ship, and we regaled ourselves with 

 the prospect of the beautiful country, and the 

 mountain of Sumatra, which rises proudly into 

 the clouds. 



The 14th. At day -break, we got under sail, and 

 the current carried us rapidly to the Strait of 

 Sunda. I had determined to take the channel 

 between Zupften islands and the current rocks, 

 which we had already passed at seven o'clock j 



T 2 



