A BOAT EXPEDITION 151 



sawdust-like paste, into which one sank up to the knees, yet the 

 feet, when withdrawn, were not in the least soiled. In the jungle 

 we got Nicobar pigeons, and a serpent-eagle that seemed to differ 

 •from the variety of Little Nicobar and Kachal {Spilornis, sp. 

 nov.). 



" A path from the beach led to a water-hole, which only 

 required clearing out to afford a plentiful supply ; the men set 

 to work at this, and when they had got rid of the water, took 

 from the hole a pailful of mudfish and eels. 



" Learning in the evening, from people who came on board, 

 that there were Shom Pen on the Alexandra River and at 

 Kopenheat, we determined on an expedition in search of them 

 next day." 



" AT arch 22. — At sunrise we put off in the whaleboat, and 

 now rowing and now sailing, as the wind served, and all 

 the time keeping well out from shore, to clear the rollers that 

 occurred at irregular intervals in most unexpected places, reached 

 Casuarina Bay (about 6 miles) at 8 A.M. 



" The breakers at the mouth of the Dagmar were too big for 

 us to enter the river without an almost certain wetting, to avoid 

 which we pulled back to the south end of the bay, and first 

 wading ashore with the contents, ran the boat through the 

 surf and quickly beached her. Almost at once we perceived 

 within the jungle a deserted Shom Peri village of three huts, 

 of a kind similar to those beyond Pulo Kunyi. In the camp 

 were two or three platforms or lounges, roughly shaded by a few 

 palm leaves, and some odds and ends were lying about ; a small 

 pig cage, food baskets made from the butt of a palm leaf, and a 

 rude lamp — a shell, in which lay a bit of greasy rag supported 

 on half a coconut. 



" Several paths converged at the village, and these we followed 

 up until each gradually came to an end — bundles and strips of 

 rattan lying along them, showing plainly their raison d'etre. 



" One path, however, led past a second camp. Some of the 

 huts were merely rough platforms built against the trunk of a 

 tree ; but others were evidently of the kind we had been told 



