524 



WATOlOn. 



[ciTAr. XXXTt. 



to my great regret and disappointment, witliont the men. 

 The weather ha<:l been very bad, and thongh they had 

 reached sua island within sight of that in which the men 

 were, they could get no fnither. They had waited there 

 six days for better weatiier, and then, having no more 

 provisions, and the man I had sent with them being very 

 ill and not expected to live^ they returned. As they 

 now knew the island, I was determined they should make 

 another trial, and (by a liberal paynient of kaive^, hand- 

 kerchiefs, and tobacco, with plenty of provisions) itersuaded 

 them to stai-t back immediately, and make another attempt. 

 They did not return again till the 2yth of July, having 

 stayed a few days at tlieir own \'illage of Bessir on the 

 way ; but this time they had succeeded and brought with 

 them my two lost meu, in tolei-able healtli, thongh thin 

 and weak. They had lived exactly a month on the island ; 

 had found water, and had subsisted on the roots and 

 tender flower-stalks of a species of Bromelia, on shell-tish, 

 and on a few turtles* eggs. Having swum to the island, 

 they had only a pan* of trousers and a shirt betMTcn them, 

 but had made a hut of palm-leaves, and had altogether got 

 on very well They saw that 1 waited ff»r them three days 

 at the opposite island, but had been afraid to cross, lest the 

 current should have carried them out to sea, when they 

 would have been inevitably lost They had felt snre I 

 would send for them on the first opportunity, and appeared 

 more grateful than natives usually are for my having done 

 so; while I felt much relieved that my voyage, though 

 sufficiently unlbrtunate, had not involved loss of life. 



CHAPTEli XXXYL 



WAIGIOU. 

 (nJLT TO SEFTZMBER 1860.) 



FTIHE village of Muka, on the south coast of Waigiou, 

 J- consists of a number of poor huts, partly in the water 

 and partly on shore, and scattei'ed irregularly over a spacis 



