34 MOUNT ERNEST. 



the dry sands after much trouble^ and under the 

 direction of Baki^ who affected g-reat grief at the 

 prospect of parting- with us, went off to the ship. 



We sailed at 8 a.m. for Mount Ernest — at which 

 place a round of theodohte ang^les was required — 

 and in the afternoon anchored off its south-western 

 side in nine fathoms, one mile off shore. A sohtary 

 native was seen at work upon a canoe near the 

 beach, but when a boat approached the shore he 

 withdrew. The canoe was about half finished, and 

 close by was a small shed of bamboo thatched with 

 grass. After crossing' a small sandy plain covered 

 with short grass gT-owing- in tufts, we met the native 

 on the edg-e of a brush to which he had slowly 

 retired in order to pick up his spears and throwing 

 stick, both of which were precisely similar to those 

 of Cape York, fi-om which place they had probably 

 been procured. He was a quiet, sedate, good- 

 natured old man, and althoug-h at first rather shy 

 he soon laid aside his fears on receiving" assurances 

 in the Kowrareg-a languag-e, which he understood, 

 that markai poud Kulkalaig Nacjir (the white men 

 are friends of the Kulkaleg'a tribe of Mount Er- 

 nest), backed by a present of some biscuit and a 

 knife. On subsequent occasions, when accompanj- 

 ing' us fi-om place to place, the quiet listless apathy 

 of the old fellow was a source of some amusement. 

 He did what was told him, and exhibited little 

 curiosit}^, and scarcely any surprise at the many 

 ^Tonderful thing-s we shewed him — such as shooting 



