xni.] DECREASE OF TRADE. 321 



backbone in liim ; one, in short, who is by no means likely to 

 disappear on contact with the wliite man, and in other ways besides 

 liis cheeriness and boldness is not unlike the African. But in spite 

 of this and the supposed denseuess of population, it is not probable 

 that New Guinea will form a market for European goods for many 

 a year to come. We learnt in Ternate that the trade mth the 

 island had fallen off considerably, and that it now no longer paid 

 to send schooners to tlie northern coast for pearl-shell and gum- 

 dammar. So little, indeed, do the natives value the cloth which 

 they obtain in exchange, and which is for the most part stored up 

 unused, that an enterprising merchant, aware of the natives' love 

 for silver ornaments, recently despatched a schooner to buy it 

 back with Dutch dollars, and it was currently reported that he 

 had made a remarkably successful venture. 



The Salwatti people are good sailors, and are especially renowned 

 for their boat-building. They construct large praus in the manner 

 I have just described, in which voyages of considerable length can 

 be undertaken, and these craft are even purchased by the Papuans 

 of Dorei Bay. The possession of a good vessel is of some import- 

 ance in this locality, for Samati and the neighbouring coast is 

 entirely exposed to the Pacific, and bad weather is not infrequently 

 experienced. During the last day of our visit a very heavy sea 

 was runnmg off the entrance to the Galewo Straits, wliich would 

 have been far too much for any small prau to face. 



We induced the Eajah to let us have one of his bullocks, 

 for which we paid him 100 guilders, or rather more than £8. 

 Wliether it was owing to our prolonged rice diet or not I cannot 

 say, but the beef appeared to us to be equal to any we had ever 

 tasted in England. Both here and at Mansinam the cattle were in 

 excellent condition. 



Leaving Samati on the 19th of November, we swung ship and 



steered westward through Pitt Strait, where we encountered very 



heavy rainstorms and the usual strong currents. We were bound 



for Misol — an island lying to the south-west of Salwatti, at a 



VOL. II. Y 



