110 GOEA¥. [chap. XXV. ; 



a war, or sort of faction figlit, and wanted his assistance ; 

 another's wife was ill, and would not let him come ; a 

 third had fever and ague, and pains in his head and back ; , 

 and a fourtli had an inexorable creditor who would not let 

 him go out of his sight. They had all received a month's 

 wages in advance ; and though the amount was not large, it 

 was necessary to make them pay it back, or I should get 

 no men at all. I therefore sent the village constable after 

 two, and kept them in custody a day, when they returned 

 about three-fourths of what they owed me. The sick man 

 also paid, and the steersman found a substitute who was 

 willing to take his debt, and receive only the balance of 

 his wages. 



About this time we had a striking proof of the dangers 

 of New Guinea trading. Six men arrived at the village 

 in a small boat almost starved, having escaped out of two 

 praus, the remainder of whose crews (fourteen in number) 

 had been murdered by the natives of New Guinea. The 

 praus had left this village a few months before, and among 

 the murdered men were the Kajah's son, and the relations 

 or slaves of many of the inhabitants. The cry of lamen- 

 tation that arose when the news arrived was most distress- 

 ing. A score of women, who had lost husbands, brothers, 

 sons, or more distant relatives, set up at once the most 

 dismal shrieks and groans and wailings, which continued 

 at intervals till late at night ; and as the chief houses in 



