UNABLE TO FIND WATER. 45 



had been on a visit to a friendly tribe, one of whose 

 quarrels they espoused, and only a few returned to 

 Errub to tell the tale. The natives wished us to 

 stay at Kiriam, but as the principal object of the 

 ship's coming' to the island was to procure water, 

 we were anxious to know Avhether it could be ob- 

 tained in sufficient quantity at Bikar, where the 

 Fly and Bramble had watered before. As Siwai 

 told us that there was none at Bikar, but plenty at 

 Mogor— his own village — we puUed along to the 

 latter place, accompanied by himself and three of 

 his sons. In passing along the south-west side of 

 the island, we were struck with the superior richness 

 of vegetation and apparent fertility, compared with 

 what we had seen in New Guinea and the Louisiade 

 Archipelago during the previous part of the cruise. 

 Some portions reminded one of English park scenery, 

 — gently sloping, undulating, grassy hills, with 

 scattered clumps and lines of trees. 



On landing- at the village, which consists of two 

 or three houses only, we were taken a quarter of a 

 mile — by a path leading along a small valley through 

 a grove of cocoa-nut trees, bananas, and various cul- 

 tivated plants, (among which I observed the Mango 

 in full bearing) — to a pool of Abater in the dried-up 

 bed of a small rivulet. But the quantity of water 

 was not enough for our purpose, even had it been 

 situated in a place more easy of access. Some 

 magnificent Sago palms overhung the water with 

 their larg-e spreading fronds j these we were told 



