XL] MARCHESA BAY. 253 



During a cruise of a certain gun-boat on the northern coast of 

 New Guinea a village was touched at which, up to that time, had 

 never been visited by Europeans. The captain, anxious to impress 

 the untutored savage, arrayed himself in full uniform and landed 

 in company with the surgeon, who was similarly attired. The 

 natives crowded down to meet them in hundreds, and appeared 

 tolerably trustworthy, but before long intimated that they were to 

 pay a visit to the chiefs house. This the captam resisted, fearing 

 treachery, but in spite of his endeavours they were carried off, and 

 his guard prevented from following. The hours passed away 

 without a sign of the officers, and the boat's crew waiting for them 

 began to fear the worst. Suddenly a crowd was seen approaching. 

 It parted, and disclosed the gallant captain to his astonished sailors, 

 bereft of his uniform and dressed in alternate stripes of red and 

 white paint ! 



The south coast of Batanta yielded us very little m the shape 

 of birds or insects, the jungle being so thick as to bar our pro- 

 gress at every step. Collecting in localities of this kind is use- 

 less, and we weighed anchor on the following day to try farther to 

 the eastward, coasting slowly along about a mile from the shore. 

 At the extreme east end an unexpected gap in the coast revealed a 

 deep bay beyond, but the entrance when ^dewed from the mast- 

 head was e\idently impassable, being beset with reefs and shoals. 

 Steaming still farther, however, we were delighted to find another 

 entrance devoid of dangers, and on steering in, we passed the island 

 at the mouth on the port hand and entered a fine bay nearly 

 four miles in depth. On its northern shore were, as we afterwards 

 discovered, three admirable secondary harbours, but wishing to 

 take advantage of every breath of air, we anchored at the head of 

 the bay in seventeen fathoms, in as snug a berth as could be 

 wished for.^ 



'■ This bay, which we named after the yacht (Admiralty chart, No. 912), is a most 

 useful anchorage for vessels going through Pitt Strait, where the tides are so strong 

 that, if adverse, the passage is almost impossible. 



