CHAP. 3EXV.] BOAT-BVaDfNQ UNDER MFFICUinES, ;i73 



tried, cutting and fitting heavy iron-wood planks for the 

 llooring and tlie posts that support the triangular mast. 

 Being of the best LoiidoE make, they stood tbo work w^ll, 

 and without them it would have heen ini possible for mo 

 to have finished my boat with half the neatness, or in 

 double the time. I had a workman to put in new ribs, 

 for which I houfrht nails of a }ki«^is trader, at 8*?. a pound 

 My gimlets were, however, too small ; and having no augers 

 we were obliged to bore all the holes with hot irons, a 

 most tedious and unsatisfactory operation. 



Five men had engaged to work at the prau till finished, 

 and then go with me to ilysol, Waigiou, and Ternate. Their 

 ideas of work were, however, very different from mine, and 

 1 hatl immense difficulty with them ; seldom more than 

 two or three coming together, and a luintlred excuses being 

 given for working only half a day when they did come. 

 Yet they were constantly begyjing advances of money, 

 saying they had nothing to eat. When I gave it them they 

 were sure to stay away the next day, and when I refused 

 any further advances some of them declined working atiy 

 more. As the boat approached completion my dilliculties 

 with the men increased. The uncle of one had commenced 

 a \var, or so it of faction fight, and wanted his assistance; 

 another's wife was ill, and would not let him come ; a 

 third had fever and ague, and pains in his head and back ; 

 and a fourth had an inexorable creditor v/ho would not let 

 him go out of his sight. They had all received a month's 

 wages in advance; and thongli the amount was not large, it 

 was necessary to make them pay it back, or I shoukl get 

 no men at all I therefore sent the village constable after 

 two, and kept them in custody a day, wljen they returned 

 about tlnee-fourths of what they owed mo. Tbe sick man 

 also paid, and the steei-sman found a substitute who was 

 willing to take his debt, and receive only the balance of 

 his wages. 



About this time we had a striking proof of the dangers 

 of New Guinea trading- Six men arrived at the \allag© 

 in a small boat almost stoi-ved, having escaped out of two 

 praus, the remainder of whose crews (fourteen in number) 

 had been murdered by the natives of New Guinea. The 

 praus had left this village a few months before, and among 



