124 NATIVE FIRE AND FOOD. 



papyrus tree, in which were carefully packed a 

 quantity of ground nuts, they were each about 

 three-quarters of an inch long, and in shape not 

 unlike a kidney potatoe;* it seemed clear, judging 

 from the native value of the commodities thus 

 rashly abandoned, that our arrival had rather taken 

 by surprise these untutored children of the wilder- 

 ness: we saw nothing of them till we had re- 

 embarked, when (four or five only in number) they 

 returned to the beach ; and we could perceive that 

 our foot tracks, upon which they appeared to hold 

 an animated debate, had, to say the least, mightily 

 puzzled them. I ascended the highest point of the 

 island in the afternoon, and from thence looked 

 over several miles of densely wooded country, but 

 offering no appearance of land to the eastward of 

 S.S.E. We gazed with indescribable delight upon 

 the wide expanse of open water which lay before 

 us in that direction, and already anticipated the 

 discovery of some vast inlet, terminating in the 

 mouth of a magnificent river, upon the exploration 

 of which our imagination was already busily 

 engaged ; nor for the moment did the thought, or 

 rather the recollection of the fact, that Captain 

 King had seen land (by refraction) in that quarter,, 

 serve to damp our ardour. When it made its way, 

 and perseveringly insisted upon engaging a certain 

 share of my attention, its presence only added an 



* Tliis esculent appeared to resemble the warran, or yam, 

 used for food by the native inhabitants north of Swan River. 



