CHAPTER XL 



TAKE THE PRINCE GEORGE INTO A RIVER IN LAT. 7° 50' — 



LARGE VILLAGES — SKIRMISH WITH THE NATIVES? LAND 



AND EXAMINE AN IMMENSE HOUSE — BRING OFF SKULLS 

 AND CURIOSITIES — SHOOT TWO PIGS — PROCEED UP RIVER, 

 BUT STOPPED BY BAD WEATHER AND SHOAL WATER' -SEE 

 OTHER VILLAGES AND MANY NATIVES AND CANOES — 

 RETURN TO VESSEL — DAMP CHARACTER OF COUNTRY — 



DELTA OP LARGE RIVER BEST PROBABLE METHOD OF 



PENETRATING THE INTERIOR OF NEW GUINEA. 



May 29. — We anchored at 10 a.m. in six fathoms, 

 near our old anchorage, a little south of 8°, and at 

 noon we sailed in the Prince George, taking also 

 the ship's cutter and her crew with us. Our party, in 

 addition to the Prince George's regular complement, 

 consisted of Captain Blackwood, Mr. Walsh, Mr. 

 Weeks, and myself, with two marines. We were 

 all well armed, and the Prince George's six-pounders 

 were cleaned and got in order. Our course from 

 the ship was north-west for ahout twenty miles, 

 leaving the opening, where Captain Blackwood and 

 I had previously been, some ten miles on our star- 

 board hand. As the tide was rising we carried four 

 fathoms, and three and a half, all the way, with a soft 

 muddy bottom, and a few patches of hard sand. We 

 steered for the mouth of a large inlet, three or four 

 miles wide, and when the western head of this bore 



