38 
NEW GUINEA. 
natives of this part of New Guinea were in possession of 
fire-arms. As the curiosity excited by Captain Cook^a 
account of his sliort visit to this neighbourhood has ntver 
yet been satisfied, it will be necessary to extract at length 
the evidence given by the Dutch voyagers respecting this 
practice. It was first observed by the officers of the 
' Triton^ on a part of the coast about eighty miles to the 
north-west of the village seen by Captain Cook aod 
Lieutenant Kolff, where the natives were very numerous ; 
but so shy, that after many attempts it was found impos- 
sible to open a communication with them. Mr. Modera's 
account jof tlie practice is as follows : 
" Several men were seen standing on the beach, 
waving a short piece of bamboo, out of which there 
issued each time something like smoke, but >vithout fire 
being observed. The interpreter said (and it subse- 
quently pi-oved to be the case on our having opportunities 
of handling them) that they had a mixture of lime, ashes, 
and sand, which they threw out above them in order to 
show w^bere they were (om zich te doen verkennen")^ 
Dr. MuUer^s account is more full, but scarcely more 
satisfactory. After noticing Captain Cook's narrative of 
his interview with the natives, and Captain Hunter's 
suggestions as to the material used, he says: '^We 
observed this practice among the coast inhabitants, met 
with between the meridians of 136° and 137° E.; and 
Captain Cook as well as Lieutenant Kolff witnessed it a 
degree and a half further to the eastward. However^ we 
never obsen^ed it in use among the natives of Prinses- 
