FRESH PROVISIONS. 369 



wooden troughs or stone channels to the gardens and 

 houses of the inhabitants. Groves of cocoa-nuts, 

 bamboos, and bananas, stately tamarinds, and other 

 tropical trees and plants, lent their shade and 

 beauty to the scene, which, with the white walls and 

 red-tiled roofs of the houses, and the many natives 

 in strange dresses, formed so great a contrast to 

 what we had been accustomed to for many months 

 on the coast of Australia, as to be highly agreeable. 

 This beauty and fertility, however, were pretty much 

 confined to the valley, as on the top of the higher 

 land on each side of it the soil seemed rather bare 

 and sterile for some distance. 



One of our first inquiries was for fresh provisions, 

 fruits, vegetables, and sea-stock ; but here we found 

 an unexpected difficulty in procuring cash for our 

 bills. After much trouble, a young Frenchman 

 undertook to cash us a Government bill for 38/. 

 in copper. It appears that they reckon here in 

 rupees, of which there are two kinds, the silver and 

 the copper, the latter being only an imaginary coin. 

 The silver rupee contains 120 doits, the copper 

 rupee is 100 doits, but as silver is scarce, and indeed 

 not to be got except at a great premium, we were to 

 take all copper. The current coin is the doit, a 

 little copper coin, the value of which was reckoned 

 to be one-sixth of a penny sterling, the silver rupee 

 of 120 doits being valued at Is. 8d. English. An 

 English shilling, however, would only go for half a 

 rupee, but a Spanish or Mexican dollar for 2| 



vol. i. 2 b 



