168 CURIOUS ORNAMENT. 



at one side, partly covered by a board of wood. We 

 thought at first, it might be the receptacle of the 

 dead, but at Darnley and Murray Islands almost 

 all the houses are of this form, so that this had 

 either been erected in imitation of them, or by some 

 people of those places when on a visit to Masseed. 

 We found in the centre of the island two water- 

 holes like those of Damood, to which Masseed had 

 indeed a precise resemblance, except that it was 

 rather larger. On going off, Mr. Sullivan bought 

 from one of the houses, for some tobacco, a curious 

 ornament. It consisted of two rudely carved figures 

 of fish, about two feet long, connected together by 

 cross pieces, about one foot long, over which frame 



