NATIVES OF PIG ISLAND. 189 



accumulation of veg'etable mould being' probably 

 prevented by the heavy rains. The grass is very 

 luxuriant without being rank ; it was not known to 

 me, for, unlike most of the other plants, I had not 

 met with it in Australia. Indeed the frequency of 

 the cocoa-nut palm was the only non-Malayo- Aus- 

 tralian feature in the vegetation. As no botanist 

 had previously visited the Louisiade, a few of the 

 principal plants may be mentioned. These are 

 Guilandina Bonduc, Tournefortia argentea, Mo- 

 rincla citrifoUa, JParitium Tiliaceum, Casuarina 

 equisetifoUa, and Clerodendrum inerme* among the 

 trees and shrubs, which were often overgrown with 

 Lygodium microphyllum, and Disemma coccinca. 

 The only birds seen were the sacred kingfisher, the 

 sulphur-crested cockatoo, and the Australian crow. 

 The shells on the reef were all Australian likewise, 

 but under some decaying logs, on the beach, I found 

 single species of Auricula, Truncatella, Scarabus, 

 and Melampus. 



The men we saw to-day were dark copper coloured, 

 with the exception of the spokesman, whose skin was 

 of a light brownish yellow hue. The hair in nearly 

 all Avas frizzled out into a mop, in some instances of 

 prodigious size ; the light coloured man, ho^never, 

 had his head closely shaved. f The physiognomy 



* These are all common to Polynesia, the Indian Archipelago, 

 and tropical Australia. 



t This allowed us to observe its contour, which was remarkable. 

 The forehead was narrow and receding, appearing as if artificially 



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