452 TSLANBS. [cnjip. sxxi. 



Some boxes on sliOre. In the evening, after dark, we were 

 suiJdenlj alarmed by tlie cry of " Bajak 1 bajak !" (Pirates!) 

 The men all seized their bows and spears, and rushed down 

 to the beach; we got liold of our gims and prepared for 

 Action, but in a few minutes all came back laughing and 

 chattering, for it had proved to be only a small boat and 

 some of their own comrades returned from fishing. ^\lien 

 all was quiet again, one of the men, who coidd speak a 

 little ^lalay, came to me and begged rae not to sleep too 

 hard. " Why ? " said I. " Terhaps the pirates may really 

 come/' said be very serious!}'', which made me laugh and 

 assure biin I should sleep as hard as I could. 



Two days were spent here, but the place was unpro- 

 ductive of insects or birds of interest, so we made another 

 attempt to get on. As soon as we got a little away from 

 the land we had a fair wind, and in six hours' sailing 

 readied the entrance of the Watelai channel, whicli divides 

 the most northerly from the middle portion of Aru, At 

 its mouth this was about half a mUe wide, but soon 

 narrowed, and a mile or two on it assumed entirely the 

 aspect of a river about the width of the Thames at London, 

 winding among low but undulating and often hilly country. 

 The scene was exactly such as might be expected in the 

 interior of a continent. The clnmnel continued of a uniform 

 average width, with reaches and sinuous bends, oue bank 

 being often precipitous, or even forming vertical cliffs, 

 while the otlier was flat and apparently alluvial ; and it 

 was only the pure salt-water, and the absence of any 

 stream but the sMght flux and reflux of the tide, that would 

 enable a person to tell tliat he was navigating a stmit and 

 not a river. The wind was fair, and carried us along, with 

 occasional assistance from our oars, till about three in the 

 afternoon, when we landed where a little brook formed 

 two or three basins in the coral rock, and then fell in 

 a iriiniature cascade into the salt-water river. Here we 

 batlied and cooked our dinner, and enjoyed ourselves 

 lazily till sunset, when we pursued our way for two hours 

 more, and then moored our little vessel to an overhanging 

 tree for the night. 



At five t]ie next morning we started again, and in 

 an hour overtook four large praus containing the " Com- 



