TO WANUMBAL 



453 



inissie," "who had come from Dobbo to inake their 

 official tour round the isbmds, and had passed us iu the 

 night. I paid a visit to the ]Jiutchraen, one of whom 

 spoke a little English, but we found that we could get 

 on much kitter with Malay, They told nic that they 

 had btit;ii delayed j^oing after the pirates to one of the 

 northern islands, and had seen three of their vessels hut 

 could not catch them, because on being pui*3ued they 

 rowed out in the wind's eye, which they are enabled to do 

 by having about fifty oars to each boat. LTaviiig had some 

 tea with them, I bade them adieu, and turned up a naiTow 

 channel which our pilot said would take us to the villnge 

 of Watelai, on tlie east side of Arn. After g<^m\% some 

 miles we found the channel nearly blocked up with coral, 

 so that our boat grated along the bottom, cnincliing what 

 may truly be called the living rock. Sometimes all hands 

 had to get out and wade, to lighten the vessel and lift it 

 over the shallowest places ; but at length we overcame all 

 obstacles and reached a wide bay or estuary studded with 

 little rocks and islets, and opening to the eastern sea and 

 the numerous islands of the " blakang-taua," I now found 

 that the village we were going to was miles away; that we 

 should have to go out to sea, and round a rocky points A 

 squall seemed coming on, and as I have a horror of small 

 boats at sea, and from all 1 could learn Watelai village 

 was not a place to stop at (no Birds of Paradise being 

 found there), I determined to Return and go to a village 

 I had heard of up a tributary' of the ^Vatelai river, and 

 situated nearly in the centre of the main! ami of Am. The 

 people there were said to be good, and to be accustomed to 

 hunting and binl-catching, being too far inland to get any 

 part of their food from the sea. Whilci I was deciding 

 this pokit the squall burst upon us, and soon raised a 

 rolling sea in the shallow water, which iipset an oil bottle 

 and a lamp, broke some of my crockery, and threw us all 

 into confusion. Plowing hard we managed to get back 

 into the main river by dusk, and looked out for a place to 

 cook our suppers. It happened to be high water, and a 

 very high tide, so that eveiy piece of sand or beach was 

 covered, and it was with the greatest difliculty, and after 

 much groping iu the dark, that we discovered a little 



