'214 TEE CRUISE OF THE ' CURAgOA.' 



and inferior as an article of food. Sharks are numerous. 

 Natives frequently die from eating fish which are poisonous 

 at one season of the year, and good at another. Some fish 

 are poisonous all the year round, and when eaten there is 

 no remedy. 



There is a variety of shellfish ; one, when touched, ejects 

 a fluid which is poisonous, and generally proves fatal in a 

 short time. 



There are large numbers of beautiful butterflies, and 

 beetles of all sizes, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, locusts. Fleas, 

 lice, and flies are very numerous ; there are large wasps 

 and venomous spiders also. 



Native barter consists of sleeping mats, baskets, female 

 dresses, native cloth, fishing lines, and implements of war. 

 With foreigners, pigs, fowls, and yams are given in exchange 

 for fire-arms, powder, ball, axes, fishhooks, beads, &c. As 

 many as 5,000 pigs have been taken from the island in one 

 year by two traders. 



