CHAPTER VII. 



ISLAND OF OOMAGA — INTERVIEW WITH NATIVES — DAMOOD 

 — INTERVIEW WITH NATIVES — THEIR HOUSES, GARDENS, 



WATER-HOLES CURIOUS PIPE — MASSEED — INTERVIEW 



WITH NATIVES — OLD GARIA — HOUSES — CURIOUS CARVING 

 OF BIRD AND FISH — DARNLEY ISLAND, OR ERROOB— ITS 



ASPECT INTERVIEW WITH NATIVES — THEIR HOUSES, 



GARDENS, TORTOISE-SHELL MASKS, WIGS, BOWS AND 

 ARROWS, DRUM, IMAGES, YAMS, TOBACCO, SUGAR-CANE 



WALK OVER THE ISLAND — ITS VOLCANIC ORIGIN 



HEIGHT BY BAROMETRIC MEASUREMENT — NUMERALS USED 

 BY THE PEOPLE. 



March 17, 1845. —We landed on a little island 

 about four miles north of Masseed. This was a flat 

 island, about a third of a mile long, with an exten- 

 sive coral reef on its eastern side. Piercing through 

 the little belt of dense scrub which intervened 

 between the beach and the wood, we got among a 

 grove of lofty forest trees, with spreading boughs 

 and leafy branches, affording a most agreeable shade. 

 This wood formed a striking contrast to the hot, 

 dry, shadeless gum-tree forests of Australia. A 

 great number of white pigeons had bred in these 

 trees, and the young ones were still lingering about 

 them, although all the old ones seemed to have dis- 

 appeared. I found also a species of helix, first ob- 



