CHAP. XXXV.] TO WAIGIOU. 345 



the reefs and islands, we had only seen a single small canoe, 

 which had approached pretty near to us, and then, notwith- 

 standing our signals, went off in another direction. The 

 shores seemed all desert ; not a house, or boat, or human 

 being, or a puff of smoke was to be seen ; and as we could 

 only go on the course that the ever-changing wind would 

 allow us (our hands being too few to row any distance), 

 our prospects of getting to our destination seemed rather 

 remote and precarious. Having gone to the eastward ex- 

 tremity of the deep bay we had entered, without finding 

 any sign of an opening, we turned westward ; and towards 

 evening were so fortunate as to find a small village of 

 seven miserable houses built on piles in the water. 

 ■Luckily the Orang-kaya, or head man, could speak a little 

 Malay, and informed us that the entrance to the strait was 

 really in the bay we had examined, but that it v/as not to 

 be seen except when close in-shore. He said the strait 

 was often very narrow, and wound among lakes and rocks 

 and islands, and that it would take two days to reach the 

 large village of Muka, and three more to get to Waigiou. 

 I succeeded in hiring two men to go with us to Muka, 

 bringing a small boat in which to return ; but we had to 

 wait a day for our guides, so I took my gun and made a 

 little excursion into the forest. The day was wet and 

 drizzly, and I only succeeded in shooting two small birds, 

 but I saw the great black cockatoo, and had a glimpse of 



