40 SUE ISLAND. 



men in it, came ofF to the ship from Sue Island, 

 near which we were at anchor. At first they 

 approached cautiously, holding- up pieces of tortoise- 

 shell, and making- a great noise, shouting out, 

 " kaisu (tortoise-shell), kapo-bue—kapo-huai—poud 

 —poud" &c., besides other words which were unin- 

 telligible, pointing- at the same time to the island 

 (which they called Wdrdber) as if inviting' us to land. 

 These blacks belonged to the Kulkalega or Kulka- 

 laig tribe, as was ascertained by Gi'om, who was 

 well known to some of them, and imderstood enough 

 of their language to keep up a conversation. Nearly 

 the whole tribe, she was informed, are now upon 

 Sue Island, although their head-quarters are, as 

 mentioned before, at Moimt Ernest. The men in 

 the canoe differed in no material respect from the 

 natives of the Prince of Wales Islands on one hand, 

 and those of Darnley Island on the other. Many 

 had the characteristic faint oval scar on one shoulder, 

 some wore the hair in moderately long pipe-like ring- 

 lets, while others had it cut close. AU were per- 

 fectly naked, and the only ornaments worn were the 

 large round pearl-shell on the breast. The canoe 

 was rather singular in form, with greater beam than 

 I had ever seen in one, nor did the sides tumble 

 home as usual ; the bow was sharp, but the stern 

 square, as if effected by cutting a very large canoe 

 in halves, and filHng up the open end. We saw 

 several bamboo bows and bundles of arrows, stowed 

 away under the platform ; these the natives would 



