YSABEL. 287 



Cockatoo Island is very small, not half a mile long, tlat 

 and very little above the sea. Tlu vegetation is Inxuriunt^ 

 and there are large trees. 



As soon as we anchored, the canoes came as issnal, in 

 form the same as those of Florida Island, but smaller in 

 general. The natives in them had yellow-coloured hair 

 dyed witli lime, short and woolly. They are as. strong and 

 Avell-grown as at Florida Island, and they seemed cheer-- 

 ful and friendly. Here also they disfigure their ears with 

 wooden rings inserted in large slits. They all wore a maro, 

 made of a kind of leaf kept up by a band round the waist. 

 They at once took to bartering with considerable pleasure, 

 speaking with astonishing rapidity, and chattering incessantly .■ 

 They brought a great many white cockatoos, different kinds 

 of parrots, some with the golden yellow ring on the breast ; 

 others with a red head and red and blue body ; also a 

 handsome bird, but a heavy and anything but a lively one ; 

 some black birdsj with yellow under tiie tail, yellow fiaps 

 roimd the eyes, yellow beak, large strong feet and claws, 

 which seemed very wild. There were no toucans, though 

 they have them in this island. They brought shells, spears, 

 a few light and nearly sharp-edged clubs ; some fine 

 yeUowish-white orchids ;- some very curious star-fish of a 

 reddish and yellowish colour, covered on one side with 

 short thick round-pointed dark brown knobs ; and some 

 thino;s about two inches in thickness, with a hard sort of 

 plate or shield at the top or Ijottom, which were laid on 

 deck, and got unfortunately smashed there. The surface of 



