270 THE GBUISE OF THE 'GUBAQOA: 



to breakfast. In a part of the bed of the river which was 

 dried up I found a handsome dead shell, an Auricula. 

 From all I saw of this river, I am inclined to think that it 

 must during great floods discharge into the sea a very 

 considerable quantity of water, in spite of its little width. 



About eleven o'clock I returned on board the ' Cura^oa ' 

 with my basket half filled with shells. Almost immediately 

 the Commodore gave orders to weigh, with the intention of 

 going to Hada or Eecherche Bay, where, after five hours, 

 we anchored in fourteen fathoms, alongside the ' Southern 

 Cross,' which had left before us, but which we came up 

 with on our way, and took in tow. The bay, though very 

 small, is snug and safe ; the high clifT on either side is 

 picturesque, and densely covered with wood, and at the 

 bottom of it there is a flat, Avell-wooded beach backed by 

 lofty hills. A native, calhng himself the king, an oldish 

 looking fellow, came on board, and showed the Commodore 

 some certificates which did by no means tend to reconunend 

 him to his notice. One certificate said ' he was a bore,' 

 another that he was ' an old knave, and the less you have 

 to do with him the better ; ' so, in spite of the dubious 

 character of these certificates, I owe it to truth to say, that 

 this self-styled king, whatever may have been his virtues or 

 his vices, sent the Commodore a pig and some other presents. 

 Another native came also who spoke English. A nigger, 

 too, came on board, and said that ' there was only one other 

 white man living on shore besides himself, an American ! ' 

 Both had been wrecked, the latter on Indispensable Eeefs 



