GUADALCANAll. 275 



About one o'clock p.m. wc came to anchor on the coast 

 of Guadalcauar, at a point wliich we named Cura^oa Har- 

 bour, ill honour of our ship, wliich probably was the fii'st 

 man-of-war that ever entered Marau Sound, The ' Southern 

 Cross * anchored at the same time. The boat in which we 

 hastened to land not being able to get near enough to the 

 beach, we were obliged to make use of the shoulders of the 

 sailors. The only [tersoii I saw on landing was a native, quite 

 willing to acciiiii])aiiy me, but who refused to carry my 

 game-bag, which I had to take care of myself. A small river 

 ran thrdugh a swamp, along which I tranijied, in the midst 

 of great pandanns trees, which cannot l)e called screw-pines, 

 inasmuch as the leaves are not arranged in spirals on the 

 branches, but have at the end of each brunch a tuft of loii"' 

 leaves. There were in the marsh, and on the highlands, 

 various .species of large trees, but I was astonished neither 

 to see nor hear a single bird. The ^roimd was full of holes 

 sunk by the hermit-crab, whose big claw was of a very pale 

 jnirple with a pink hue. On the cocoa-nut trees I saw 

 something which I took at first for a globe-shaped bulb, Init 

 which turned out afterwards to be a nest of small harmless 

 ants. A curious form of red inusliroom was growing about. 

 I also saw a pretty orchid with white iiowers, sweetly 

 perfumed. Of land-shells I suav Init two species. On such a 

 soil it was next to impossible to go far, and so I retraced my 

 steps without having got over imicli ground ; and crossed 

 tlie river on a tree which was thrown over it at a spot 

 ">vhcre it might l)e one foot deep. At the entrance to a 



T -2 



