NATIVE DEVOTION. 



719 



^- 



^i' 



Bay. It is true that a single specimen of Nautilus umbilicatu.^ was picked iij) froui 



the surface of the neighbouring sea and reached my hands hiter in a mangled condition. 



From this circumstance it would seem possible 



that systematic search on an extensive scale 



with unlimited equipment would discover a 



Nautilus ground in New Guinea waters. But 



from all I can hear, it is likely that the 



Philippine Islands will prove to be the vantage 



ground for this investigation'. 



An old pearler whom I met in Milne Bay 

 on board his cutter informed me that he did 

 not think Nautilus lives in Milne Bay, but the 

 shell drifts into the bay from the windward 

 from such places as Teste Island, Brooker 

 Island and the Du Chateau Islands", although 

 some natives said they had taken it in the bay 

 long ago. 



Shortly after leaving Milne Bay I was 

 Sony to lose the services of mj' native skipper, 

 Suopa, who was a cheery fellow as well as a 

 handy man. Knowing that it was my ultimate 

 intention to leave New Guinea in order to seek 

 out some more likely place, he one day offered 

 to follow me wherever the four winds might 

 take me, not caring even if it should so fall 

 out that he never returned home. I was rather 

 touched by this assurance of devotion, the more 

 so because I knew that it would be contrary 

 to regulations to accept his offer of service 



away from New Guinea, but I was quite unprepared for the reaction which set in the 

 very next day when he demanded money and freedom, and, not content with these, 

 began raking up old scores as a reason for lea%'ing. 



Next day I sailed east, in the direction of the Conflict Group, with a crew of 

 three mop-headed youths, including a little fellow whom we called " Cookie," but whose 

 real name was Taliwanedi, a native of Sanaroa. 



The distances between the numerous groups of islands into which th(> eastern 

 division of Papua is subdivided, are not very gi'eat, but the opposing winds, currents 

 and calms render navigation uncertain and sometimes precarious even to a seasoned 

 mariner. 



\\\ 



Fir,. 12. Shoal of Aiupliisile stiifiatti in attitude of 

 swimmiD". They are representeil as if swimming 

 from right to left. (Drawn by Mr Edwiu Wilson.) 



On the 14th of January, while nearly becalmed and tfrifting within sight of the 

 low-lying western islets of the Conflict Group, a shell of Sepia, often called the cuttle- 



' Cf. Dean, Bashford, "Notes on Living Santilus." Amer. Xalural. xxxv. pp. 819 — 837, lilOl. 

 - I had intended to visit these islands, but the imminence of the south-west monsoon in this region 

 prevented me from getting farther east than the Deboyne Group, except at a risk of being wind-bound. 



