MEET NATIVES IN BISTREibS. 119 



boy, in great distress from want of water, until 

 Lieut. Yule kindly supplied their wants. They had 

 been wind-bound here for several days, the weather 

 for some time previously having been too boisterous 

 to admit of attempting- to reach the shore, although 

 only a few miles distant, in their split and patched- 

 up canoe. This was of small size, the hollowed out 

 trunk of a tree, with a double outrigger, and alto- 

 gether a poor imitation of that used by the islanders 

 of Torres Strait ; the paddles were of rude work- 

 manship, shaped like a long-handled cricket-bat. 

 Their spears and throwing sticks were of the same 

 kind as those in use at Cape York, to be afterwards 

 described. These people were WTetched specimens 

 of their race, lean and lanky, and one was suffering 

 from ophthalmia, looking quite a miserable object ; 

 they had come here in searchof turtle,— as I under- 

 stood. Each of the men had lost a front tooth, and 

 one had the oval cicatrix on the right shoulder, cha- 

 racteristic of the northern natives, an imitation of that 

 of the islanders. They shewed little curiosity, and 

 trembled Avith fear, as if suspicious of our intentions. 

 I made a fruitless attempt to pick up some scraps of 

 their language ; they understood the word pond or 

 "peace" of Torres Strait. 



On this island the principal trees are the leafless 

 Eriithrina, Avith waxy, pink flowers. Great num- 

 bers of pigeons resorted here to roost. I found here 

 a large colony of that rare and beautiful tern, 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



