CHAr. xxxir.] 



J>QBBO. 



473 



the house,, and placing ever}" article in the suusbine iov an 

 hour or two, I got ritl of them witht at damage, as they 

 wei'ti fortunately a liaruilesa siiecies. 



Dobbo now presented an animated appearance. Five or 

 six new houses liad been added to the street; the praua 

 were all brought round to the western siile of the point, 

 where tliey were hauled up on the beach, and were being 

 caulked and covered with a thick white liuie-plx^ter for 

 the homeward voyage, making them the brightest and 

 de&nest looking things in the place. i£ost of the small 

 boats had returned frjm the " blakang- tana" (back 

 country), as tlie side of the islands towards New Ouhiea 

 is called. Piles of hrewood were being heaped up behind 

 the houses ; saihrnakei-s and carpenters were busy at 

 work mother-of-pearl shell was being tied up in bundles, 

 and tlie bliuik and ugly smoked tripang Wiis having a 

 last exposure to the sun before loading. The spare 

 portion of the crews were employed cutting and scLUaring 

 timber, and boats from Cemni and Goram were constantly 

 unloadmg their cargoes of sago-cake for the traders' home- 

 ward voyage. The fowls, ducks, and goats all looked fat 

 and thriving on the refuse food of a dense population, and 

 the Chinamen's pigs were in a state of obesity that fore- 

 boded early death. Parrots and loritas and cockatoos, 

 of a dozen ditlerent kijids, were suspended on bamboo 

 perches at the doors of the houses, with metallic green or 

 white fruit-pigeons which cooed musically at noon and 

 eventide. Young Ciisso wanes, strangely striped witli 

 black and brown, wjindered about the houses or gambolled 

 with the playfulness of kittens in the hot sunshine, witli 

 sometimes a pretty little kangaroo, caught in the Aiu 

 foi^sts, but already tame and gi-aceful as a petted fawtL 



Of an evening there were more signs of liie than at 

 the time of my former residenca Tom-toms, jews'-harps, 

 and even fiddles were to be heard, and tlie melancholy 

 Malay songs sounded not unpleasantly far into the night. 

 Almost every day there was a cock-fight in the street 

 The spectators make a ring, and after tiie long steel spurs 

 ai'e tied on, and the poor animals are set down to gJish and 

 kill each other, the excitement is immense. Those whii 

 have made beta scream and yeU and jump frantically, li 



