WHITE — A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White. 49 



after shaking hands with my father, presented him with a 

 little papiermache box, containing twelve bright-looking 

 pearls, and he says in his notes: "I ascertained that this was 

 a present, I took them all three below to the saloon, and made 

 them presents of coloured calico, handkerchiefs, beads, jam, 

 knives, etc., at which they appeared very pleased. The mer- 

 chant had a few large but dull pearls for me, for which I gave 

 him rice and jam, whereupon he showed much pleasure, and 

 hugged me round the neck repeating the word ' 'Raj ah" many 

 times, a name by which I am addressed by all here. 



They were all remarkably quiet and well-behaf ed. I was 

 called on deck to see a man who could speak English, but I 

 soon found out that his English was confined to five words, 

 three of which were blasphemous ones. The number of 

 pi umes of P. apoda offered to-day, go to show that this beauti- 

 ful bird is not yet extinct, and I hope before long to meet with 

 them in their native forests. No King birds of Paradise had 

 yet been offered, although Wallace said they were plentiful 

 when he visited these Islands." The weather was calm with 

 light rain. The next morning, the 28th, light rain was falling, 

 but in spite of this Samuel White ordered out a boat, and was 

 landed upon a jutting piece of the coastline, covered in thick 

 scrub. The land was very low and wet, which made collect- 

 ing very difficult, for all this part of the island was densely 

 wooded. 



