ANCHOB OFF DUFAUEE ISLAND. 285 



bottom could be g-ot with a hundred fathoms of Hne, 

 — apparently an indication of a submarine barrier, 

 more or less continuous^ running at a variable 

 distance from the shore, and following* the general 

 trend of the coast. The appearance of the land seen 

 lately is very fine : the coast being- backed by ranges 

 of high mountains presenting- a very diversified out- 

 line ; one of them, named upon the chart Cloudy 

 Mount, attains an elevation of 44??' feet. Yester- 

 day and to-day great numbers of a storm petrel 

 ( Thalassidroma leucogastra) have been following 

 in our wake. This afternoon, while off the eastern 

 end of the bay called by Bougainville the " Cul de 

 sac de I'Orangerie," the Bramble was signalled to 

 lead in towards the land off" which we anchored at 

 9 p.m. in 80 fathoms. 



From our anchorage we next morning saw on 

 Dufaure Island, from which we were distant about 

 three miles, a village in a grove of cocoa-nut trees 

 behind a sandy beach, and the natives came off in 

 considerable numbers bringing larg-e quantities of 

 cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit •* they did not appear 

 however to have any yams. Two or three small 

 pigs, of ih.& same description as that hitherto seen 

 (Sits Papuensis), were procured ; and we obtained 

 two fine live opossums, of a rare and singular kind 

 ( Cuscus maculatvs), for an axe a-piece. They ap- 



* This was of smaller size than it attains in the South Sea 

 Islands ; we cooked it in various ways but failed to make 

 it palatable. 



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