110 MIAGO AND HIS FRIENDS. 



variety of an irregularity, that rather reminded 

 the beholder of Nature's ruin than her grandeur, 

 rose, drear and desolate, above the surrounding 

 waters ; no trees shaded their riven sides, but the 

 water-loving mangrove clothed the base of this 

 sterile island, and a coarse, wiry grass was thinly 

 spread over its sides. 



Soon after we had anchored, some natives were 

 observed by Miago watching us from the shore ; 

 and shortly afterwards a party landed, to attempt 

 communicating with them, and to get the necessary 

 observations for the survey. In the first object they 

 failed altogether ; for these " black fellows," as that 

 gallant hero called them, retired to the heights, 

 and, while closely watching every movement, refused 

 to trust themselves within our reach. The small- 

 ness of their number, and their want of arms, quite 

 elevated the courage of Miago, who loudly vaunted 

 his intention of monopolizing a northern " gin,'* in 

 order to astonish his friends upon our return to the 

 south : — stealing away the ladies being, as I have 

 before remarked, the crowning and most honourable 

 achievement of which man, in the eyes of these 

 savages, is capable. I ought not to omit remarking 

 here, that the natives seen to-day were accompanied 

 by a black dog ; the only instance in which, before 

 or since, we observed the existence of a dog of that 

 colour in this vast country. Captain King mentions 

 that he saw one in this neighbourhood during his 

 visit in 1821. 



