318 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



exercise on deck, as clothes once wet in this climate are not 

 easily dried on board ship ; and we looked back with a de- 

 cided feeling of regret to the dry and sunny, albeit windy 

 weather, of which we had such a long experience in the 

 east. Matters were, however, considerably improved on the 

 14th, for though heavy showers fell throughout the day, 

 there were some brief intervals of watery-looking sun- 

 shine. The Indians paid ns a second visit in the forenoon, 

 and remained some time, walking about the deck, and 

 taking very careful note of everything they saw, but without 

 helping themselves to anything. The women left in the 

 canoe were very clamorous for " Galleta " (ship-biscuit), en- 

 deavouring to make us understand that they wanted it for 

 their children. One boy, about ten years old, was exceed- 

 ingly observant and intelligent, and would have proved, I 

 have no doubt, a most promising subject for education. They 

 were greatly amused with two little pigs which we had on 

 board, and which were let out of their den on this occasion, 

 running after them, trying to catch hold of them, and giving 

 vent to peals of the most hearty merriment. One of the men 

 was presented with a shirt, trousers, and a marine's old red 

 jacket, by some of the ship's company, and walked up and 

 down in his new attire with his hands in his pockets. Some 

 of the women wore necklaces formed of numbers of a small 

 shell, Margarita violacea, common in the Strait and Channels, 

 strung together on fibres of sinew, and one of the men had 

 a fragment of rock-crystal suspended round his neck, while 

 another had a necklace formed of the bones of a bird's foot. 

 Both sexes wore a narrow band, apparently formed of hide, 

 round each ankle. In the afternoon a small party of us 

 landed for a ramble, one of the officers taking his gun with 

 him for the purpose of endeavouring to secure a specimen of 



