Ixxxviii Appendia. 
and painted, which are capable of holding 40 or 50 men. They are kept very 
carefully hauled up under sheds, and have the appearance of being but seldom 
used. 
“ With these people our intercourse was of a most satisfactory and pleasant 
nature. At first they were a little shy, but this was speedily got over, and a 
free interchange of barter went on, pieces of hoop-iron being the great medium 
of exchange.. They eagerly gave their handsome stone hatchets and other 
valuables for a piece of the coveted iron, with which many tons of the finest 
yams were also bought. Looking glasses seemed at first to alarm them. On 
all possible occasions I gave our ship's company liberty to go on shore and mix 
freely with the natives, and the results were all I could desire— perfect good 
feeling and confidence on both sides; nor was there a single instance of our 
men insulting the women, or of the natives making immoral offers. The 
greater part of our surveys being done in boats, I had frequent occasion to 
land in my six-oared galley at large populous villages, 18 or 20 miles from the 
Ship, surrounded by large erowds, yet we were always received in the same 
friendly, hospitable spirit as if in sight of the ship, nor do I think they 
had any idea that we possessed weapons more powerful than their own. 
They would, if possible, pilfer when on board, but in bartering were 
Strictly honest. Taking them altogether they are as genial and pleasant a 
race of savages as could well be met. At the same time I have no doubt they 
do a little cannibalism among themselves. They took pains to make us 
understand, as an event they were proud of that they had eaten the former 
owners of the skulls hung up in their villages, and of the human bone 
ornaments which they wore; but as the skulls are few and apparently of 
ancient date, and they have superabundance of food, I am inclined to think it 
is only on very rare occasions that they make a raid or do any fighting among 
themselves. I never saw a wounded man amongst them. I think it not at 
all unlikely that the inhabitants of the large outlying islands s*and very much 
in relation to the New Guinea men as the Danes and Norsemen of old did to 
the uc Britons. On one occasion, when lying in Fortescue Strait, we 
were visited by some large island canoes, and immediately they appeared every 
mother's son of the New Guinea men cleared out, and were seen no more until 
the strangers had left. : 
“ We could not trace any sign of religious worship amongst any of these 
copper-coloured races, unless stringing up thousands of cocoa-nuts on poles 
fixed on the reef in front of their villages—in fact, everywhere—may be 
regarded as a propitiatory offering. They never were out after dark, and 
probably, like other savages, have a belief in and dread of devils and evil 
Spirits, but no knowledge of any good Spirit. At Killerton Island, before 
they opened a friendly intercourse, they brought a dog on board and knocked 
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