276 TEE CRUISE OF THE ' CURACJOA: 



little village I had the opportunity of seeing and killing one 

 of those superb pari'ots with a gold and yellow ring round 

 the breast. Dr. Picken and some officers were already at 

 this village, the huts of which were low, small, oblong in 

 shape, with low gables to the roof, the low sides made with 

 thin strips of wood and crossed ; each had a door in front 

 facing the sea. There were some women in these huts, but 

 being alarmed at us, they had closed their doors, and so 

 baulked oiu' curiosity. One, however, I did see who was 

 entirely naked, and exquisitely formed she was. The men 

 were all armed with spears, and though they did not seem 

 much to like our being there, they made no difficulty in 

 giving us cocoa-nut milk to quench our thirst. This 

 district seems thinly peopled ; the greater part of the men 

 had yellow heads of different shades, some reddish, and 

 seemed about the same in appearance as those we had seen 

 before, but less ornamented. I found some large flat round 

 fi^esh-water mother-of-pearl shells, and some sea shells, 

 red inside, both of which were lying in a heap under a 

 tree in the water, and looked as if they had not been 

 long taken. Brazier shot fifteen parrots of a dark red 

 colour, and of a species of which I have never seen a 

 live specimen. Before six in the evening I got back to the 

 ' Cura^oa.' 



After sunset I could make out very distinctly the outline 

 of the Isle of Malata separated from Guadalcanar by Indis- 

 pensable Strait. It lies high, and according to the chart it 

 must be pretty nearly of the same extent as Guadalcanar. 



