OOMAGA ISLAND, 159 



served at Turtle-baeked Island, but which lay here 

 in considerable quantities under the dead leaves and 

 branches. 



Soon after we had landed, one of the boat's crew 

 came running to me to tell me the natives were 

 coming to the island in canoes,- and as this was the 

 first time we had met the islanders (except at 

 Murray Island, in 1843), we assembled on the beach 

 to receive them. Only one canoe came to us, in 

 which were three men and three boys. They ap- 

 proached us, unarmed, with the utmost confidence, 

 one man holding a cocoa-nut in one hand and a 

 green bough in the other. They all shouted " Poud, 

 poud, poud Masseed !•• meaning ' Peace ! peace with 

 Masseed !' They were a well-made, fine-looking 

 people, of a different type from the Australians, with 

 muscular limbs and frizzled hair. Thev had the 

 oval epaulet-like mark on the shoulders, but no 

 other scars. Their hair was dressed into long, 

 narrow, pipe-like curls, smeared with red ochre and 

 grease, and they wore a band round the forehead. 

 One old man, who informed us his name was Garia, 

 had a black wig dressed like their hair, but his 

 beard and whiskers were nearly all grey. They 

 understood the words we had picked up at Cape 

 York, and they knew three English words, ic water," 

 " knife " (pronounced " nipa"), and " ship," which 

 they called " shippo :" these they had probably 

 learnt from whalers. They seemed fond of smoking. 

 Their canoes resembled those we had seen in 



